
cites. 
Book_ 



COPYRTGHT DEP0S17 



CHICAGO THE MAGNIFICENT. 

THE EMPIRE CITY OF THE WEST. 
^ ,§ouxiewiv of tTie "S^ovUV's ^air. 

Its Phenomenal Rise. 

Its Present Marvelous Status. 

Its Future Greatness. 



PUBLISHED BV 

JOHN p. WILLIAMS, 







CHICAGO THE MAGNIFICENT. 

THE EMPIRE CITY OF THE WEST. 
^ s,oxvucuiv of the ^(llovUVs luiif. 



Its Phenomenal Rise. ,-^ 

Its Present Marvelous Status. " ' 

Its Future Greatness. 



PUBLI&ftED BV ^: 

JOHN P.^WILLIAMS, '-t;<i&lo93 



New York and Montreal. »< i 






CoPVRIGHTED, l"g2, 

Ey JOHN P. WILLIAMS. 
{Aii rights reserved.) 

.5" 

■■•■-tir 






PRINTING *SiJ O0>'•(b<^0t••a ^<iV,FKXt 
h£W YORK 



CHICAGO. 

"THE CITY OF DF.ST! NY." 

^MONO the .^reat cities of the world Chicago has taken its place. Xot only will k rank w>th London. Paris 
.nd N-ewTrk-L huge vortices of n.odern civilizat.on-but also w.th those ct.es which stand out .n he pages o 
h wodds history as t 'pical of the ages in which they Nourished. Babylon. Pahnyra, Thebes, Athens, Ronr . w 

::l -4, eacMn thJtinre of its glory, focussed the activities, tl. id.as, the virtu., 'he greatne^nd, a^s U. 
follies, the vices, and the crimes likewise-of those who buUt and dwelt ,n then. So ^^^^^^^1^^^ \^_ 
pohtan in the broadest sense of the term, it represents, even more than London or New York, the dominant 
teristics of Western civilization, as such exists m the closing years of the nineteenth century. 

More than this, Chicago in its peculiant.es is a city of the future. A twent,eth_ 7»^-> ' ^^ . ^ "^^^^ 
called, when compared with other cities of Europe and Amer.ca. It is. as yet only an -fa.v^-a e y b^ n n 
sura-vlin<. so to speak over the prairie that stretches along the southwestern shore of Lake M chigan. but, 
g-::: im^;:!:; :?.i;s mfantHe Uporfons may be seen the promise and the potency of mural greatness, grandeur, 
actiNitv, enterprise, and population such as the world has never witnessed before. 

-The most enthusiastic admirer of Chicago, however, cannot claim that it is beauftul. ,n the scn.,e iha. 
and Florence are called beautiful. 



Situated at the head of the least ]ji(turesciiie of the great lakes, with never a hill to break 'the monotony of the 
prairie horizon, it owes nothing to nature tor whatever charms it may possess. Yet Chicago is interesting, deeply in- 
teresting, to the observer of human nature. No tra\ eller can say he has seen the world if he has not visited Chicago, 
mixed with its people, taken note of their peculiar characteristics, observed their astonishing achievements, and 
caught, at least, a passing touch of the contagion of their superlative enterprise. 

But if Chicago cannot carry off the palm for beauty bestowed by nature, it can, and does, command admira- 
tion for what it has achieved by art. As if conscious of a destiny greater than that of any other city ever created by 
man, those who planned its proportions gave to its streets a width which even the huge buildings, towering twenty 
and more stories high, now rising on every side, cannot darken. Indeed, they seem to be in perfect contour with a 
place where everything is on a scale of cyclopean magnitude. 

Still, big as this city is and ever growing bigger, no term that we j^ossess can give an adequate idea of its 

i character. Gather all the imaginable powers, forces, achievements, inventions, accomplishments, possibilities, hopes, 
aspirations, prophecies of humanity ; array them, if you can, before your mental vision in all theii" glory and their 
gloom, and that is Chicago. 

A despot's fiat created a city on the Neva, and St. Petersburg arose from a waste of rock and water. But a 
still more imperial fiat created Chicago. Here the voice of Humanity must have said, " Out of this tangled waste 
of swampy prairie, in the heart of the wide, wild West. I will build me a city and make an abiding jilace where 
1 may freely develop all that is in me." 

Hither the workers came from every land beneath the sun. Hearts and heads and hands united ; all animated 
by the same indomitable spirit, have produced this wonderful hive of humanity. Do not, however, suj^pose that 
the work is done. By no means. It has only been begun. Not, perhaps, even a century hence, when Cliicago will 
have become the greatest city, not only in America, but in the whole world, will the work be completed. Not till 
the civilization, of which it is the topmost bloom, shall have become uni\ersal all over this terrestrial ball, will 
Chicago attain the full stature of its maturity. 

4 



AVliat it will lie then is Ijeyond conception, as the possibilities of" man's \icto'ries over the forces of nature are 
unimaginable. From the history of its past, however, we may faintly outline its future. 

EARLY HISTORY. 

The first glimpse history gives us of the country of which Chicago is the great pulsating human heart, is from 
the pen of Father Marquette. In the year 1673, that fearless pioneer missionary, accompanied by Louis Joliette, a 
Quebec fur-trader, crossed Wisconsin by the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and ascended the tranquil Illinois River to 
the spot where now stands the city of Chicago. 

On the banks of the sluggish Chicaqua the Indians of the Illini nation welcomed the white strangers with 
the Pijie of Peace, feasting, and rejoicings. Powerful allies they doubtless expected to find in men endowed with 
supernatural facilities, as they innocently believed. For Marquette and his companions discovered on their way 
that this vast and fruitful region, abounding \\ith game, was and had for long been the scene of relentless savage 
warfare. 

The hardy Ir.iffalo roamed these plains i;i herds that numbered millions ; the deer and the antelope were 
within easy reach of every hunter's arrow ; innumerable wild fowl filled the air, hid among the tall prairie grass, and 
covered the surface of the lakes and ri\ers. But man, more brutal than the beasts, made cruel war upon his kind, 
and the tribes in their mutual hatred inflicted on each other the most dreadful tortures, the bare recital of which, even 
at this distance of time, fills the mind with shuddering herror. 

The Illinois, who welcomed Marquette where the lazy Chicaqua poured its reluctant tribute of swampy 
waters into the bosom of Lake Michigan, were a confederacy of Algonquin Indians. They included the Peoria, Kas- 
kaskia, Caliokia, Tamaroa, and Michigan tribes, who dwelt in and near the States that preserve their names. They 
had driven out the Arkansas before Marquette's arrival ; nearly ainiihilated the Winncbagoes in 1640 : suffered 
murderous defeat by the Iroquois in 1679. losing thirteen hundred warriors : fought the Sionx with varying fortime ; 

5 



attacked the frontier settleir.cnts of Virginia: joined the French in fighting the Chickasaws : and in 1719 were, as 
a result of these bloody enterprises, reduced to less than three thousand souls. 

The mission of the good priest was to teach these farioiis savages the religion of peace and love. He 
planted the cross among them, according to the custom of the missionaries who, from Quebec, carried the glad 
tidings into the wilderness in those days. Nor was his mission unsuccessful when he succumbed to malarial fever, 
caught from the exhalations of the lUiriOis swamps, and died, leaving Father Claude AUouez to carry on the work he 
had .so heroically commenced. 

Joliette seems to have driven a flourishing trade in furs with the Indians, and was gathered to his fathers, 
leaving his name as a pledge of his fame to a county in Lower Canada and a town in Illinois. The latter is famous 
as the location of the State prison and reformatory. 

After the Revolution the Illinois confederacy made war against the United States Government. Fir.ally 
compelled to submit, they followed their chief Du Quion to the Indian Territory, where thev dwindled into insig- 
nificance. 

Not so the Kickapoos, who originally occupied the country south of Lake Michigan, whence they advanced 
to the Sangamon. Irrepressible, implacable enemies of the Republic, they successively resisted Cenerals Harri.son. 
Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne, and when driven out of Illinois they passed into I^Iexico rather than submit to 
American rule. 

La Salle and De Tonti followed the footsteps of Marquette and Joliette at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, on 
Lake Erie, where the city of that name now stands ; the^ built the first \es.sel that sailed the waters of the upper 
lakes. It was named the Griffin, and carried them to the shores of Wisconsin, from whence they ascended the 
winding course of the St. Joseph River. During this expedition De Tonti witnessed the unspeakable horrors of an 
Iroquois invasion, vvhen hundreds of Illinois women and children were burned alive at the stake. 

This led to the formation of a confederacy, by La Salle, which included the Kickapoos, Miamis, Illinois, 
Piankeshaws, and Shawnees. Numbering some two thousand warriors, these confederates were taught how to con- 

6 



struct earthworks, and their villages, thus defended, grouped about Fort St. Louis, near Starved Rock, successfully 
defied the attacks of the Iroquois. About this time Father Hennepin, anothet missionary from Quebec, appears 
upon the scene, his name being associated with that of La Salle in the founding of Fort Crevecoeur. He established 
missions at Cahokia and Kaskaskia, while the French traders made the first beginnings of that commerce which has 
since been developed to such amazing proportions at Chicago. To and from Quebec and iSIontreal, by way of the 
great lakes, the Chicago and Illinois Rivers, down the Mississippi, this commerce flowed. French colonies were 
established, farms were cleared, mills erected, forts and churclies built, and French and Indians dwelt together in 
jjeace. At first the country was governed from Quebec ; subsequently, as a part of Louisiana, it was ruled from 
New Orleans until Wolfe's conquest, when it passed under the dominion of Great Britain. Its first British 
governor was Captain Sterling, of the Forty-second Highlanders, who took possession of Fort Chartres in 1765. 
He found the French colonists the same in every respect as their brethren in Canada. Nearly all married to 
Indian women, they dwelt in villages of thatclied, v.hite- washed cottages, dressed in home-spun capot&s, coarse blue 
garments, and moccasins. Their chief settlements v,-ere Notre Dame de Cascasquias, where stood a stone fortress 
and monastery, Ste. Famille de Kaocpiias, and Prairie du Rocher, near old Fort Chartres. 

In 1778, before the rebellion of the thirteen colonies-had terminated in successful revolution, and before the 
Government of the United States was permanently established, Virginia asserted her right by charter to the territory 
northwest of the Ohio. In support of this claim Colonel George Rogers Clark, acting under State orders, with one 
hundred and fifty men descended the Ohio to near Fort Massac. After a march of several days they fell upon tlie 
sleeping town of Kaskaskia and called upon the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. To 
this the frightened French people gladly assented and persuaded their countrymen in the other villages to follow 
their example. Thus quietly and unnoticed amid the more exciting events of the War of Independence, this vast 
territory changed its allegiance for the last time. 

Although they espoused the cause of the colonists, their hereditary enemies, it is not known that the French 
Canadians of this remote region took any fiuther part in the war. They continued their existence unmolested, and 

7 



their descendants are still to be found as contented under the Stars and Stripes as they were luider the I'nion lack 
and the Fleur de Lys. 

The country remained under the, jurisdiction of the Stale of Virginia until 17S4. when it was ceded to the 
National Government. IMeantime immigration from Virginia had begun to flow into the territory, and in 1S09, 
the territorial government of Illinois was organized. It included, with the present State of Illinois, Wisconsin, 
Michigan, and Minnesota. In 1800 the population, largely Fre>ich, numbered only 2,358. 

FIRST SETTLEMENT. 

A FUGITIVE negro slave, who had fled from a cruel master in San Domingo, and who had found his way, 
heaven knows how, to this remote spot, wa.s the first man to raise a roof here and make a permanent home on the 
banks of the Chicago, where now 

" The domes and spires rise "* 

Of a proud city famed afar." 

Baptiste Point de Sable, when he built his humble shanty here in 1790, little dreamed that he was the jnoneer of 
what was destined to be the Queen city of all cities of the Western world. But he lived free and happy, carried on 
a flourishing trade in furs, eventually sold out to a Frenchman named Le Mai, and history knows him no more. It 
may, however, be presumed that, like Old Uncle Ned, 

" He has gone where tlie good niggeis go." 

It is related that De Sable was made much of by the French voyageurs, and even by the English, when thev came into 
possession of Mackinac long years after. At any rate, all accounts agree in conceding to him the honor of having been 
the first settler at Chicago. 

8 



In 1803, after the great Napoleon had, for a consideration, ceded the vast territory of Louisiana, stretching 
from the Gulf of Mexico to the sources of the Mississippi, to the United States, the Government of the Republic de- 
cided to establish forts at points along the lakes. The mouth of the Chicago was chosen as the site for one of these 
forts, and was considered the most distant and isolated. Hither came Captain John Whistler, of the Revolutionary- 
army, and on July 4, 1803, he cast anchor off the mouth of the Chicago. Pushing ashore through the marshy reeds, 
he found three cabins occupied by a few French trappers with their Indian wives and half-breed children. A small 
crowd of Pottawattomies completed the group who stood wondering while the gallant captain, with only two armed 
followers and two ladies, raised the flag of the United States, and took possession in the name of Congress. What a 
subject is this for some future artist of Chicago to depict on canvas, when the city will have become as famous for art 
as now it is for " puts " and " calls." 

A track of six miles square was ceded by the Indians to the Government, and Fort Dearborn was erected in 
the year 1804. Captain Whistler remained in command of the fort for seven years, when he was relieved by a de- 
tachment whose tragic fate forms the most melancholy episode connected with the foundation of the city. During 
those years settlers were very few. Terrible, perpetual Indian wars deterred even the most venturesome from the 
risks of attempting a settlement. Only three families nestled under the protecting walls of Fort Dearborn. Their 
names were Kinzie, Burns, and White. The loneliness of their position may be imagined, its terrors appreciated, 
when it is stated that the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh was then on the war-path and stirring up all the tribes 
whom he could influence to make war on the .'Vmerican border. 

As Captain Charles King relates, the war of 1S12 opened like tliat of 1861, with many humiliations for the 
United States. Michilimackinac struck its flag to Great Britain. All Michigan, with the post of Detroit, went 
under in one wretched collapse — that of Hill's surrender ; word came by friendly runners of these disasters, and Cap- 
tain Heald, now commander of the fort and post at Chicago, found himself practically alone in a wilderness with but 
two officers and sixty-six men, to " hold the fort " and protect the lives and properties of a fev,- score settlers whose 
farms were already spreading, out along the north and south branches of the " Chicagow." It shook Heald's nerve. 

9 



his 0-™ life and ,he ifvIroT,,,,"! ,„;;:,, °° '""• '» '°"'"" "'' - ""- '" "' ■'^'"« "'^ P""'"! 

for .,vo';=r no'taf: nilf:" 3 of ,f ' «"™°»'.-"t«""""' «'= »'«"-">• "P'" »' '"" »<i ^e. ,„d 

rounded the new stockade built n no n L > r ? m . ^^ ■^^^'" '^^ ""^PP"'' '^""'^^^- =^"d settlers sur- 

fead.eredincon.bus I.? t;^? ^^""" '^'^^^^^ '-^ career, rising like -< that 

uuMiwe. to u hich .he ha^ ^o often and with such good reason been comimed. 



THE CITY. 

In i8i8 Illinois became a State, and in 1837 Chicago was incorporated as a city. 

Although there were only four thousand inhabitants, those incorporators, like their successors of the present 
day, doubtless felt themselves as good as twice their number in any other place. Anyway, they increased to sixteen 
thousand in ten years, and at the end of another decade proudly boasted of ninety thousand. 

Then came the era of railway building, and Chicago outstripped all imaginable schemes of other cities in the 
far-reaching magnificence of her enterprises. The fabled monster, with a hundred arms reaching out in all directions, 
was a childish, a feeble allegory, compared with this young giantess. But along her iron arms people came flocking 
to her from the ends of the earth. Freedom, fortune, felicity of wealth were hers to share with all, and any who 
came to her and did not obtain a portion of her bounties had themselves to blame. 

Chicago, to use the oft-quoted figurative language of the poet, has risen on stepping-stones of its dead self to 
higher things. Several times it has risen from its own ashes. Originally it rose from oozy swamps and primeval 
slush. Even yet envious spirits in towns it has eclipsed declare that this saucy queen has only about sixteen feet 
of crust between her and the unfathomable muskeg below. If so, that crust must be tolerably well arched and sup- 
ported to bear the stupendous load her people have put upon it. But to get rid of the imputation that she \yas 
below the lake level, her people resolved upon an unheard-of thing. They actually decided to raise the grade of. 
their area ten feet by elevating it from below, and carted in enough earth from surrounding regions to lift them- 
selves clean out of the mud. There was a tumultuous demand for screw-jacks. Everywhere the houses were raised 
bodily to the required altitude, and, in a short time, Chicago smiled down benignly on her envious neighbors from 
an elevation honestly won by her own indomitable pluck, labor, and enterprise. 

Those who witnessed the transformation give an arpusing description Qf the city as it then 4p].cared on stilts. 



But up she went, and up she stays, with her grandly spacious thoroughfares whose adamantine jjavenients extend, 
level as a bowling-green, for miles and miles away till lost in the hazy distance of interminable vistas. 

But Chicago, splendid as she is to-day, has a history full of heroism, romance, and suffering. He who said 
that all the subjects for great epics were exhausted never read that history. The stranger may not notice the scars 
of the wounds she received in the fierce conflicts through which she has passed, but she bears them on her bosom all 
the same. Their discipline has helped to make her Mhat she is, has steadied her character and given her that air of 
imposing majesty which so well becomes the massiveness of her democratic features, and which, unconsciously, im- 
presses all who enter her wide and lofty gates. 

From the time of the massacre of Heald's unhappy command till the year 1844 no sound of war disturbed 
the labors or the slumbers of tlie builders and dwellers of Chicago. In 1840 the Mormons founded the City of the 
Latter-Day Saints at Nauvoo, on the Mississippi. There they raised an imposing temple; but their strange doc- 
trines and practices so enraged the people that, in obedience to popular demand, Joseph and Hiram .Smith were 
arrested for violating the laws of the State and cast into prison at Carthage. Ther« a furious mob j'erformed an 
act which in all ages has given vitality to religion, and confirmed the truth of the saying that "The blood of the 
martyrs is the seed of the faith." The prison guards were overpowered and the captives slain. 

The Mormons flew to arms and the famous "battle at long bowls" took place. For one whole day five 
Illinois and five Mormon guns cannonaded. Eight hundred cannon-balls were fired, and at night Nauvoo sur- 
rendered ; its people suffered ejectment, and a year later they set out on their long march beyond the Rocky Moun- 
tains to found a new city on the shores of the great Salt Lake in Utah. 

A few years later the war with Mexico broke out, and Illinois sent six regiments to take part in tlie punish- 
ment of Santa Anna. In these regiments Chicago was well rejjresented. 

Next came the stupendous war of secession. Governor Yates was equal to the occasion. The echo of tlie 
first gun fired at Sumter had scarcely died away before he put Illinois in line of battle by garrisoning Cairo and call- 
ing upon the Commonwealth to defend the Union. The records show the part Illinois i:laycd in that terrific con- 

12 



flict. During the war this State sent out 156 regiments of infantry, 17 of cavalry, and 33 batteries, numbering 
259,092 men. Of these 5,888 were killed in battle, 3,022 died of their wortnds, 19,596 died of disease, and 969 
died in Southern. prisons. Among the sights of Chicago to-day is Libby Prison, just as it stood during the war, but 
transformed into a military museum. He would be cold-hearted indeed who, gating on those historied walls and 
remembering the harrowing scenes they once enclosed, could stand unmoved, nor feel a thrill of passionate pity for 
those who pined so long beneath their shade. But to tliose who have reason to remember that dark period in 
American history, the echo of the wail that rang throughout the land from Libby and from Andersonville will come 
back like a cry from the grave, and they will hear again the sad old song : 

" In llie prison cell I sit, thinking, motlicr, now of you. 
And the bright and happy home so far away, 
And llie tears they fill my eyes, spile of all that I can do, 
Tho' I strive to cheer my comrades and be gay." 

And then will come the triumphant refrain, full of the hope that was, after much suffering, so happily fulfilled: 

" TR.\MP ! tramp ! tramp ! The boys are marching ! " 

But casting aside these gloomy memories they turn their backs upon the past. They have shaken hands across 
the bloody chasm, and, united once again, the people of the great .\merican nation march forward with faces like 
the morning, and shoulder to shoulder, on the path of their heaven-ascending destiny. 

Still, despite these fiery national ordeals, Chicago continued to grow. At the outbreak of the Civil AVar, in 
1861, her population in round numbers was about one hundred thousand. At the close it was two hundred thou- 
sand. In 1870 it had reached three hundred thousand ; in 18S0 five hundred thousand ; in 1S90 it bounded over a 
million and took rank as the second city in the United States. Chicago has thus about doubled her population 
every ten years, and looks forward to distancing New York at the close of the centur)-. Contemplating this 

13 



astonishing development, may we not, without a thought of profanity, add to the question of the patriarch, ■• Who 
can bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ? " by saying. Who can place limits to the 
expansion of Chicago? On three sides of her the broad and smiling prairie lands spread far away. There is, 
therefore, nothing to prevent her growing to any extent. 

But, after granting all that honest admiration can concede to this truly wonderful city, there still remains 
something to be said on the other side. The stranger from afar, like one who has fallen overboard into the ocean, 
feels conscious of a sort of hopeless buoyancy. He is conscious of being lifted, whirled, carried away, suffocated in 
the flood of humanity that tumbles, surges, roars around him. The pulse of life that flows along these streets has a 
thunderous throb, but it is less the beating of a great human heart than the mechanical vibration of a gigantic steam- 
engine. It is pitilessly irresponsive to the individual yearning for sympathy, and realizes to the imagination the 
modern poet's interpretation of the scientific aspect of nature : 

"So careful of the type it seems, 
So reckless of the single life." "* 

Wealth, enterprise, indomitable plucl<, invention, genius, soaring ambition, are all concentrated in Chicago to a 
sublimity and intensity almost appalling. Here man triumphs over obstacles as he never triumphed at any time or 
anywhere else ; but, like Margrave in Lytton's famous story, he seems to have bartered his soul for the sake of 
trium]3hing, and, for the pleasure of enjoying an unbounded vitality, surrendered that spirituality which, after all, 
contains and bestows the only true lu.xury of existence. This hungering, palpable lack of soulfulness creates a vast 
vacuum in Chicago, in spite of its abounding vigor and overflowing life. Natural this is, perhaps, for we are in the 
metropolis of Dollardom. Even in the fiices of the beautiful women we meet may be traced a likeness; to the classic 
features of the goddess of Liberty, ;is delineated on the national coin. 

Thus the American ideal of wealth, liberty, independence, worshipjied ojjenly and in secret, has stamped its 
likeness on the physical lo\eliness of the daughters of America in lines of freedom and richness. It may not be the 

14 



very highest ideal, but it is a high one, high enough no doubt for Chicago in its present stage of development, yet 
not high enough for him who sang : ' 

*' I do believe when a soul is pure. 
The outward form does truly bear 
Those certain signs whicli will assure 
The heart that in a mortal guise 
A spirit dwells fit for the skies." 

But we must not look for perfection in humanity, and Chicago is only human. Yet nowhere is humani>ty more 
broadly progressive than here. As Chicago is first in ratio of development, it is third among American cities in 
banking and general commercial activity, and promises to become second in a few years. Its distance from the 
Atlantic seaboard is covered in twenty-four hours by half-a-dozen. rival railways, which are annually shortening space 
by increasing speed. It is essentially cosmopolitan. Every language known to civilization is spoken within its 
borders. Its churches embrace all creeds. Its schools educate free the children of all nationalities. Its school 
system begins with private kindergartens leading into public primary grades, and thence upward into twelve high 
schools corresponding to European gymnasia. The course of study is the same for both sexes. Men and women 
are employed in the same tests as teachers in all the schools and receive the same salary for the same work. Women 
are also among the lieutenants of the general superintendent of the free-school system. The example thus set pervades 
all departments of honorable and profitable industry. In many large manufacturing and selling concerns women are 
in responsible positions. They are lawyers and physicians, also, and there is no bar to women in any path in which 
she shows industry and ability. 

The higher education system is under the control of various corporations, chiefly denominational. There are 
many academies, a number of seminaries which train for the ministry of religion, many colleges for the study of 
music, of medicine, of law, and of commercial practice. 

The Art Institute is at once a public museum, open every day in the week, and free Saturdays and Stindays, 

15 



and an Art School in which drawing, painting, and sculpture are taught as well as architecture. There is a free 
circulating library, with many sub-stations and reading-rooms, all free and open on Sundays. This library is fourth 
in rank in the United States, and is rapidly passing up to be first. (_)ther libraries are referred to elsewhere in this 
book. There are fifty hospitals, public and private, and over a hundred institutions of charity and humanity. 

DERIVATION OF NAMES. 

This reminds us of the derivation of names, which might as well come in here. According to some authori- 
ties the Indian word from which Chicago is derived means wild onion, but the weight of philological authority is on 
the side of those who claim that the true meaning of the word is the Indian name of "a no.xious little striped animal 
with a big bushy tail and marvellous powers of scent propulsion." If this be true, there is something amusingly 
suggestive in the fact, especially when the stranger is compelled to enjoy the e.xhalations of the " Chicag," while 
crossing any of its numerous bridges on a hot summer day. "* 

The name of the State is much more noble in its derivation. According to the best authority it is a French- 
Canadian attempt to express the word Illiiiique, which in Algonquin is a verbal form "we are men." The iquc 
gradually got written ois, ])ronounced loay. Americans say Illy-noy ; but the French said Illinique. This account 
agrees with Albert Gallatin, who translated the word Illini (the same as Leni of the Delawares) as Superior men, 
or Real men. Among the nicknames for Illinois are : " The Prairie State," " The Garden of the West," and " The 
Sucker State." The term " Sucker," as applied to an Illinoisian is attributed to a Missourian, who said to a party 
of Illinois men. going home from the Galena mines, " You put me in mind of suckers ; up in the spring, spawn, and 
all return in the fall." The old-time lead-miners alwa)'s passed their winters at home, returning to Galena in the 
season when the sucker-fish v>-ere running plentifully. Stephen A. Douglass said : "When George Rogers Clerk's 
brave little army of Virginians charged into Kaska.skia, they perceived the French citizens sitting on their verandas, 
and imbibing mint-juleps through straws. In thunder-tones the Rangers shouted, " Surrender, you Suckers ! " 

i6 



ARCHITECTURE. 

As the individual man unconsciously betrays his character in his dress, habits, and gait, so is the character 
of a people shown in their architecture. In the antique palaces and tombs of Egypt, in the temples and statuary 
of Greece, in the massive baths and stupendous amphitheatres of Rome, we may observe and estimate the prevailing 
tones of the civilization of those cities. The monuments of Egypt reveal to us a people crushed under the double 
burden of an overbearing ecclesiasticism and an irresponsible despotism, and imbued with the spirit of another- 
worldliness which tinged every action of their lives. 

From the remains of Grecian architecture we can form a conception of the supreme ideal of symmetrical \ ^^ 
beauty which has made Greek civilization imperishable, and all after-ages and nations mere imitators, but never 
the equals of the poets, the artists, the philosophers of the land of Homer, Praxiteles, and Pericles. 

In the massive creations of Roman genius we may likewise trace the features of a muscular, cruel, conquering, 
lu.xurious, ruling nation. Even the France and England of to-day, in the streets of their capitals, tells us what sort 
of people built those cities. The gay and lofty airiness of Paris; its theatres, its churches, its galleries, and its 
garrets, tell us, in unmistakable language, what sort of men and women made, admire, and inhabit them. Then 
observe the snug but respectable ugliness of London. Its interminable rows of dingy brick houses, each an exact 
copy of its next-door neighbor, even its poor sooty geraniums and window-boxes of wilting mignonette disclose 
to the wayfarer secrets which the stolid Briton imagines are locked away, like his bonds and securities, safe beyond 
the reach of prying eyes and thieving hands. 

So also is it with Chicago. In its endless rows of shops, in whose brilliant plate-glass windows are displayed i 
the most wonderful fabrics, the most beautiful wares ; in its vast stock-yards, packing-houses, elevators ; its thousands /'--^ 
of smoke-belching chimneys; its clattering, pounding, whirring factories ; its vast, wide-roofed storehouses ; its huge/ 

17 



j hotels ; its sky-high buildings, pigeon-holed from bottom to top into offices, where men may be seen at work like 
' bees in the comb, all show us plainly what manner of city this is, what the people are like who inhabit it, and reveal 
the guiding spirit of their civilization. 

We used the v.-ord pigeon-holed. That is the term precisely to describe those towering buildings of twenty 

stories high. Take four pigeon-hole boxes of equal size by sides and ends, place them so as to form a square with 

the compartments facing inward. If each shelf had a gallery running round on the inside, with stairs and elevators 

at the ends, then you have the idea of these lot"ty structures. A roof of iron and glass gives light to the interior, 

while each pigeon-hole, or office, has a window looking outward. Some of these buildings have pretensions to 

architectural style, some are really grand, and others have imposing e.xteriors. But there are also some that stand 

squarely cut in stone without a break in the straight lines of the corners, the wdndows, the doors, or the roofs. 

/ There is a beauty in simjilicity, but this pigeon-hole, candle-box style of architecture is the bcaii-iih-al of unredeemed 

i ugliness. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the architectural appearance of Chicago is grandly imposing. The 

highest building in Chicago at present (and one which is not built on the new Chicago construction system) is 

the Auditorium. Its loftiest point is 296 feet above the sidewalk. The Fair Building measures 241 feet to the 

coping, and it is possible that it wfll be carried higher, to sixteen or eighteen stories. The new Masonic Temple 

will measure, over all, 274 feet. This is constructed entirely on the new system The Ashland block measures 

210 feet to the coping ; the Woman's Temple, whose topmost stories are now being finished, towers 266 feet 

from the ground; the Manhattan, 198 feet; the Monadnock, 194; the Henning and Speed block, 192; the 

Abstract Building, 190; the Chamber of Commerce block, 180; the Home Insurance, 178; the Tacomo, 175; 

the Northern Hotel, 174; the Rookery, 164; the Owing's block, 161 ; the Rand-McNally, 148; the Chicago 

I Opera-House, 135 ; and the L. Z. Leiter building, 133 feet. The most perfect building is the Court-House and 

' City Hall, in the French Renaissance style, constructed of Athens marble and Indiana granite, with statuary nobly 

I designed. This building cost ,'?;4,ooo,ooo. 

The topmost story of this splendid pile contains the Chicago Public Library, containing 150,000 volumes. 

iS 



The spacious reading-rooms attached are crowded every day of tlie week l.iy students of both sexes, and the most 
admirable order is preserved. 

The Post-Ottice and Custom-House is another perfect specimen of its style in architecture— the \'enetian 
Romanesque. The marble decorations of the interior were once considered exceedingly rich and in exquisite taste. 
The recent erection of exceedingly high structures in its immediate vicinity has, however, dwarfed the appearance 
of this handsome building, and, owing to the absorbent nature of the stone of which it is constructed it has 
assumed a sooty, fuliginous complexion which sadly deteriorates the exterior aspect. Although it cost no less a sum 
than six millions of dollars and is both extensive and massive, it has become too small for the vast business it was 
desio-ned to accommodate. Added to these disadvantages, the foundations have proved defective, and a demand 
has arisen for a Post-Office and Custom-House of more modern design and in keeping with the extraordinary 
requirements of a city, which is expected to contain a population of two millions by the end of the century. 

The Board of Tracie building is a handsome structure, with a lofty sjiire-like tower which gives it the ajjpear- 
ance of a church from a distance. 

The Masonic Temple, the roof of which rises higher than any other in the vicinity, is overpowering in the 
stupendous severity of its far-extending perpendicular outlines. Typical of the ancient craft that raised it soaring, 
so to speak, among the clouds, it is superbly proportioned and lacks nothing that modern ingenuity could command 
or invent to make it perfectly adapted to the purposes for which it is intended. 

But the pride of Chicago, in the way of architectural effort, is the Auditorium. It has been described as 
marking one of the high culminating points of American civilization. Erected in 1887-90, at a cost of $3,500,000, 
this enormous structure fronts on three of the chief streets, presenting impressive and commanding facjadgs of 
Romanesque architecture, abounding in strong round arches. It is as nearly fire-proof as a structure can be made,| ^ 
being built of granite and limestone, iron and steel, with impenetrable walls, and nothing inflammable except the/ 
furniture. This greatest private building enterprise ever undertaken in America has been entitled "The Parthenon V 
of Modern Civilization," as the richest type of the age of business and cpmrperdgl aptivity and individual comfort,' 

19 



The Aiiditerium was conceived and developed by Ferdinand W. Peck, a wealthy citizen of Chicago, and prominent 
in many enterprises, who recognized the need in the city of a grand building for jiolitical, musical, military, and 
other conventions and reunions, to serve the metropolitan aspirations of the city, and to promote fraternity among 
the people of the Republic. The Auditorium Association includes several hundred leading citizens of Chicago who 
have taken stock in this national and patriotic enterprise. Among the component parts of the Auditorium building 
are the business portion, including handsome stores and one hundred and thirty-six offices ; the Tower Observatory, 
270 feet high, occupied by the United States Signal Service on its seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth stories; 
the Recital Hall, in cream and gold, seating five hundred persons ; and the Auditorium, the largest, most sumptuous, 
and most perfect, acoustically, theatre in the world, with the most com)>lete and costly stage, and an organ of 
unusual power and sweetness, and a seating capac:ity of 4,100, which can be enlarged to 8, 000 in time of conven- 
tions. 

The Auditorium Hotel is part of this mighty pile, and includes four hundred guest-rooms, with a grand 
dining-room and kitchen on the tenth floor, and a banqueting-hall built of steel, on trusses over the theatre. 
Every luxury of modern civilization finds a home in this unrivalled pubhc house, which is at all points fire-proof. 
The Auditorium tower has become one of the notable sights of Chicago, and few visitors to the city fail to go to its 
summit, for there can be obtained views so grand as always to be remembered. Both the architectural and decora- 
tive features of this wonderful edifice are entirely original in their treatment, and mark a new era in the history of 
construction. It is generally admitted that the Auditorium proper, or the great hall, surpasses all the opera-houses 
of both Europe and America in beauty of decoration and finish, as well as in capacity. This architectural i)ride of 
the great West occupies a charming site overlooking Lake Michigan and its commercial fleets, while close around it 
surge the life and activity of Chicago. 
r The great fire, of w hich we will speak more fully under the next heading, was instrumental in producing the 

/ city of to-day. Two hundred millions of dollars worth of property was destroyed, and nearly one hundred thousand 
( people rendered homeless. But while the conflagration was raging and men were fighting the flames in one part of the 

20 



city, gangs of laborers were set to work clearing the foundations over wliich thi,- hre had s\vei>t, and new and better/ 
buildings went up almost as rapidly as the former had been burned down. 

Standing on the roof of the Auditorium, your guide will point far out to the southwest, past many lofty 
towers, past business blocks fifteen stories high, past mammoth elevators and wholesale storehouses which seem 
built to outlast the Coliseum, and, through the haze of smoke and steam, your eye can almost discern the very spot 
where, on that windy Sunday night twenty odd years ago, Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked the bucket in the shanty 
stable that set a western world ablaze. 

Running north and south, you can trace the great arteries of the city seventeen miles in length, marking the 
business resorts and elegant homes of the citizens, with the waters of the great lake dancing brightly on the one 
side, and the vast prairie spreading away toward sunset on the other. It is a glorious prospect, and once seen can 
never be forgotten. 

THE GREAT FIRE. 

All cities in America have had their baptism of fire, but that which took place at Chicago on the night of 
October 7, 1871, and was renewed the following evening, was the greatest catastrophe of the kind in the history of 
the New World. It consumed more than one-half the area of the city, destroyed several hundred million dollars 
worth of property, occasioned a large loss of life, and rendered homeless nearly one hundred thousand people. 

A clergyman who was an eye-witness of the conflagration, wrote a graphic description of it while the impres- 
sion of the stupendous horror of the calamity was fresh upon his mind. The whole business portions of the South 
and North sides of the city were laid in ruins. Nothing resisted the appalling fury of the wasting element. He 
relates how totally helpless the engines were — many of them barely escaped burning — fire-proofs were consumed as in 
a moment, and the flames leaped over whole blocks and across the river ; the miracle of Mount Carrael was repro- 
duced. When everything was licked up and devoured by the fire fiend, people were caught in their dwellings and 

21 



burned to death, or overtaken on the streets and destroyed. Only when the city was consumed in the track of the 
liurricane did the elemental war cease, and the assaulting foe rest from his deadly work. For days the fire smouldered, 
and night after night the heavens glowed like the canopy of hell, and threatened universal ruin. But, thanks to 
Providence, the track of desolation covered not the whole city ; a portion was left to furnish shelter for the homeless, 
and as a nucleus for rebuilding the metropolis of the Northwest. 

It was a period of drought in the whole Western country. The dryness of the atmosphere was remarkable. 
There w-as a strange lack of moisture in the air — a condition exceedingly rare in the lake region. On Saturday even- 
ing, October 7th, about eleven o'clock, a fire caught in a planing-mill, west of the river and within a block of it, in 
the neighborhood of a wooden district fiill of frame-houses, lumber and coal yards, and every kind of combustible 
material. Some contend that it originated in a beer-saloon and thence was communicated to the planing-mill. In 
the almost inflammable state of the atmosphere and under the propulsion of a strong wind, the tinder-boxes on every 
side ignited, and ruin rioted for hours over a space of twenty acres and destroyed a million dollars worth of property. 
Grand and awful as this conflagration seemed to the thronging thousands, who crowded every approach and stand- 
point where a view could be obtained, it paled and faded away in comparison with that of the following night : but, 
as the event proved, this first fire saved the remainder of the West division of the city, for when the raging element 
came leaping and roaring onward it found nothing to burn, and then paused, and w-as stayed, while it rushed across 
the river, and satiated itself upon the noblest and best portion of the town, east and north. 

This renewal of the fire, or, as it was really, an independent conflagration, began at nine on Sundav night, in a 
barn where an old woman was milking by the light of a kerosene lamp, which was thrown over and emptied upon 
the combustible stuff that lay around. 

The starting-point was southwest of that of Saturday night. The wind was blowing a gale from the .south- 
west and hurled the blazing brands and showers of glittering sparks aloft, and plunged them down upon the dry 
masses beyond. There was a hope that the river running north and south w-ould interpo.se a barrier to the foe. By 
the glare of the burning the night became a mockery of day in its abnormal, shifting light. Was there no foothold 

22 



on which the flames rould cross? "The bridges! the bridges 1 " shouted the multitude, and one by one their 
ponderous hgneous lengths were swung around heading up and down stream. At length the fire answered the ques- 
tion by flinging a shower of burning brands upon the Adams Street bridge, and the wind, the friend of the fire, 
fanned them until the bridge was all aflame. Now it had a shorter distance to leap and, with a savage bound, the 
fire was in the heart of the city — in its fat, rich heart, where active wealth had piled its palaces of commerce and 
housed its treasures in with iron and stone, and thought it was free trom the sweep of flood or flame. 

Eastward the fire journeyed with its fevered stride, eating like a withering canker through the vitals of the 
city. It was not long before the Michigan Southern depot had risen up in smoke and blaze and fallen in ruins, scatter- 
ing a deeper volume of destruction around than ever before. Now northward the hell angel strode to the emporium 
of rich produce it was longing for. Now it hung round a bank, burst open its doors, shivered its windows, scorcheci 
through its roof, and toiled and burned its fiercest till the great safe — ah, the safe ! had succumbed to its blazing, 
melting breath. The fire-bells all over the city were ringing continually — a terrible tocsin with the one word fire in 
its scorching throat. The people had but to wake to know what was the matter. The danger seemed everywhere. 
Out in the street, half-clad, dragging what could be snatched in the hurry of flight, the strong men, the half-fainting 
women, the children with terror pictured in their wide-open eyes, all hurrying, with nowhere to go. All the fire 
force in the city wxi combating the flames as fearlessly as brave men with their hearts and homes at stake well might. 
Without regard to whom it reached the panting fire licked and consumed hotels and stores. Now the Court House, 
now the Sherman House, anon the Western Union Telegraph Company's office, then the Tremont House, ne.\t the 
Chamber of Commerce, fiu'-famed Farwell Hall — whatever lay in its fated path — until it flung itself upon the great 
Union Depot with its spread of buildings, and had sacked with its cremating arms the corn-stored grain elevators by 
the lake and river side. Again it met the waters, and again it leaped them, landing on the north side of the town. Here 
it had nothing to stay its steps. Wooden houses were but fuel in its way, and greedily it enveloped and devoured 
them. Onward for a mile it stretched as the day broke ; fear before, ruin and ashes behind. Animals burst forth 
from keeping and rushed blind among the flames, adding to the terror of the scene as they gave forth their cries of 

23 



dread. The homeless began to niulliijly in numbers througli the 1)la(:kened hght of morning, that paled but did not 
subdue the flames. 

Up to Chicago Avenue the fire raged unabated in its fury. The rumor that human beings were perishing in 
the flames became a certainty, and, what made the agony deeper, was that none could tell how many. It has never 
been told. Eastward from Chicago Avenue, with the whole portion of the city to the south one seething, reeking 
sea of fire, it went. Suddenly, the water-supply failed. The men in power, with the mayor at their head, were act- 
ing with the greatest energy. To the other cities of the West went forth a cry for firemen. One and all the cities 
responded. To the world went out the simple tragic demand which, in its brevity and pith alone tells its harrowing 
story : '• Send us food for the suffering. Our city is in ashes." Houses were blown down that the fire might be 
arrested. But it seized on the debris and burned that too. Would the wilting wind never die? It did not (aW, 
it only changed, as if e.xhausted, then called upon the north to send out its vandal breeze. 

Yet it was salvation to the West and South divisions, so much of which survived, that the wind blew from 
the same quarter Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and continually, till the fire had burned itself out. On Monday night 
there was a gentle rain, which seemed to many a god-send, and yet added to the forlorn condition of the thousands 
who crowded out to the prairies and the groves north and west of the fire. Here many died from terror and ex- 
posure, and it is estimated that five hundred births occurred during these two days and nights. Some were confined 
in the streets and vehicles ; others found a temporary shelter until more permanent means were devised for their 
comfort. 

The greater part of the fire in the North division occurred after daylight on Monday, and the spectacle pre- 
sented in that quarter was such as would be presented by a community fleeing before an invading army. Every 
vehicle that could be got was hurrying from the burning district loaded with people and their goods. Light bug- 
gies, barouches, carts, express wagons, were mingled indiscriminately and laden with an indescribable variety of 
articles. Others were hurrying to the scene from curiosity, or to complete the work of rescuing friends and prop- 
erty before the monster could destroy them. 

24 



People crowded the walks leading children or pet dogs, carrying plants in pots, iron kettles not worth ten 
cents, or some valueless article seized in the excitement. Many looked dolef'ully on the lurid clouds, still far away, 
and wondered whether they and their homes were in danger ; others looked as though they had spent the night in a 
coal-pit or in a fiery furnace. There was such hurrying to and fro as the world seldom sees, with universal agony 
and distress. Families became separated and were looking for one another. Often in vain was the search — they 
would meet only at the great judgment day, which seemed to some almost at hand. 

In the midst of all this terror and confusion the worst forces of society were jubilant, and all the villains had 
free course. The Court House jail had one hundred and sixty prisoners, and these were let loose to prey upon the 
people in the time of their helplessness and extremity. Such an event was a public calamity, but humanity would 
not permit the wretches to perish there, and no means was at hand to convey them to any other place of confine- 
ment. Drunkenness, robbery, even murder, were rife during these terrible days. 

Meantime, from all parts of the United States and Canada money and provisions came pouring in. Human- 
ity's response to Chicago's cry of distress was alike nobly profuse and effectual. In all the world's history there 
never was an outpouring so spontaneous and immense — nor one more sincerely appreciated. 

Only a faint idea can be formed of the immensity of the treasure, independent of ordinary property, utterly, 
irrevocably lost. In the Sub-Treasury vaults alone, at the time of the fire there were $1,500,000 in greenbacks, 
§300,000 in National Bank notes, §225,000 in gold, and §5,000 in silver; making a total of §2,030,000, of which 
§230,000 was in specie. The vault was so miserably constructed that it was wiped out, as if it were built of mere 
wood, with all its contents. The Post-Ofifice vault was no better and perished in the same way. All records were 
hopelessly lost. Strange as it may seem, a little one-story frame shanty, in rear of which was the barn where the 
fire originated, on De Koven Street, stood alone uninjured. The flames swept around it on every side, igniting 
everything else, while that miserable structure stood for years a monument of the place where the fire commenced. 

So vast was the disaster that befell Chicago that every hamlet in the land felt its effects. This can best be 
seen by contemplating the insurance losses. These may be stated in round numbers as about §200,000,000, whereas 



i--, 



the total assets of fire insurance companies in the United States at the time of the fire onlv amounted to $85,000,- 
065,060 ! This, however, does not include foreign companies v.hich do a large amoimt of business in the country. 
The American branch of The London & Liverpool & Globe Insurance Company alone had, on December 31, 
1869, $90,936,126 fire risks, and the rislis during the year written, besides this, were $220,302,506, or a total of 
§311,238,632. These gigantic figures remind one of the distance to some stellar orb in the calculations of astron- 
omers. Nevertheless, though the destruction of Chicago threatened a financial crash, means were found for tiding 
over the crisis without materially deranging the business of the country. 

On the week following the fire the National Banks resumed business as usual, an immense number of men 
were set to work, and hope animated all faces. The labor of removing rubbish and tottering walls seemed hercu- 
lean, but energy, skill, money, and Chicago go-aheadativeness rapidly transformed the howling waste, over which the 
flames had rolled like torrents of lava, and in an incredible short space of time, a greater, grander, more beautiful 
Chicago rose from its ashes to astonish the world and challenge the admiration of mankind. 

V.ALUE OF PROPERTY. 

I\ nothing is the extraordinary growth of the city shown more markedly than in the rise of values of real 
estate. Without taking into account the annexation of outlying districts, these values have risen by leaps and 
bounds. As in all rapidly growing cities, its people are fond of pointing out the humble beginninsjs of its sturdy 
pioneers, who started the pace in the bewildering strides for business supremacy which has brought Chicago to its 
present commanding position. 

They tell how Potter Palmer sold calico prints at seventy cents, which were bought just previous to the war 

, at three and a half cents, and thereby netted fifteen millions of dollars ; how ^L^rshal^Field knew when " to take 

occasion by the hand," and reaped as the reward of his business foresight profits that gave him rank with the multo- 

36 



millionaires ; how Leiter, his Hebrew partner, came to select twenty-four of the best bi;siness coniL-rs in Chicago ; 
and many more stories equally illustrative of the Aladdin-like rise of this wonderful city. Bat the history of the 
men is the history of Chicago. Pluck and foresight were the secrets of success. 

Still there have been prophets of disaster, but the people of Chicago never paused to stone them. Its enter- 
prising burghers went right ahead and have laid out enough " sites " outside the corporation hmits to accommodate 
two or three municipal empires as large as London. As we have already seen, the city is growing perpendicularly 
as well as horizontally. To get an idea of this, imagine a city with twelve times the area of Nev,- York, so congested 
that buildings from fifteen to twenty-three stories high ai-e a necessity ! The Tacoma building, thirteen stories 
high, has two thousand four hundred tenants. The Chamber of Commerce, with the same number of stories, has 
about three thousand tenants. Double these for callers and you have six thousand persons per hour emptying on a 
sidewalk space of one hundred feet. There are more tenants in these few feet than in five blocks of New York. It 
is this intense concentration of business within a certain confined area, described locally as '-The Heart of Chi- 
cago," which has made immensely high buildings a necessity. Land here is held at fabulous prices. Compare 
it with New York. Some of the choicest parts of Broadway in that city can be bought for six thousand dollars per 
front foot, yet a choice of Dearborn Street frontage, south of the river, cannot be had for less than eight thousand 
dollars per foot. Only ten years ago this same property was sold for one hundred dollars per foot front ! But 
when a city doubles its population every ten years, as Chicago has since the first census in 1854. it is not surprising 
that property values should also magically increase. 

Within five years land around Calumet Lake, in the Thirty-third Ward, fourteen miles out, has increased ten 
times in value. On the other hand, it is only right to state, there are parts of the Thirteenth Ward which have not 
increased one dollar in value in ten years. Under such conditions it is not surprising that many and large fortunes 
have been rapidly made in real estate. Names of men are given who make over a million dollars a year each by 
dealing in city lots. A few instances of these dealings will be interesting : The northwest corner of Michigan and 
Eda Streets sold for $88, 000, one week after it had been bought for $78,990. The ground pn which the Mallars 

27 



building stands was bought in 1889 for $346,000. Its rental now pays five per cent, on S500.000. The front foot 
vahie is now $3,000 per foot. Many other instances of the same kind could be cited. 

In a city so wealthy as Chicago, it is to be expected that the residences of its merchant princes should 
display a sumptuousness in keeping with their fortunes. And so they do. The residential streets of the city are 
unsurpassed anywhere for elegance and comfort. In these streets the architectural beauties of Chicago show to the 
best advantage, and prove that good taste has guided wealth in the construction and arrangement of these beautiful 
homes. 

A traveller visiting Chicago for the first time cannot fail to notice the apparent alisence of churches. It is 
only apparent, however, although Chicago cannot by any means boast of its piety. When the great fire laid the 
greater part of the old city in ashes, the ground formerly occupied by i)laces of worship was too valuable for business 
purposes to be re-occupied in that way. As a consequence these lands were sold and the new churches built at 
more convenient localities in the residential parts of the city. All denominations of Christians have handsome, and 
some really magnificent, churches. There are sex'eral synagogues, and even the Chinese have their Joss House. 

It would be impossible within the compass of a work like this to give a detailed description of all the 
churches and public buildings of Chicago. But like everything in this astonishing city, they are on a scale that 
would shake the credulity of those unaccustomed to the bigness of all things in and appertaining to ('hicago. 

THE CHICAGO RIVER. 

This stream, so often mentioned in the foregoing pages, deserves some further notice in order to show how 
it divides the city, and illustrates, in a most remarkable manner, the peculiar genius which seems to inspire every- 
thing done in this most enterprising place. The Chicago River is a bayou running westward from Lake Michigan 
for five-eighths of a mile, and then forking into the north and south branches, nearly parallel with the lake. The 
South Side, between the river, the south branch, and the lake contains the wholesale business houses, banks, 

2S 



exchanges, hotels, and chief pubhc buildings, with a fine residential quarter be\;ond. There is also a pleasant region 
of homes on the North Side. Owing to its low, fiat situation the drainage of the city presented a serious problem. 
As the water-supply had to be drawn from the lake, it was evidently improper to make it a reservoir for the drainage 
and sewerage of the city. But the difficulty was surmounted by reversing the course of nature, and instead of the 
river flowing into the lake, the lake was made to llow into the river, which was turned to empty into the Illinois 
River ; and what was thus a nuisance and a danger was made into a convenience and a great economical advantage. 
Thus Lake Michigan has been made to connect with the Gulf of Me.\ico by way of the Mississippi. 



AN OCEAN PORT 

This is now the Michigan and Illinois Canal, and the citizens of Chicago declare their intention to utilize it 
in such a way that their city will become an ocean port. What, they say, is to prevent the enlargement of this 
canal and the improvement of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, so as to enable ocean steamships to sail right up to 
Chicago from New Orleans, take in their cargoes at the docks on the shore of Lake Michigan, and carry them, with- 
out breaking bulk, to any port of the world? What, indeed? Certainly there is nothing, in the estimation of a 
Chicagoan, impo.ssible when the question is for the greater glory and [irosperity of Chicago. When it is borne in 
mind that the grain trade of this city employs thirty immense grain-elevators and storehouses, handling 140,000,000 
bushels annually, the citizens of Chicago cannot be chided for indulging in so splendid a dream — a dream which 
money could transform into a reality. And anything money can do, Chicago can do. 

But grain is only a part, and not the largest part, of the trade of Chicago, vast though it be. The live-stock 
trade is fast rivalling it. The Lhiion Stock Yards are the largest in the world, and cost three millions of dollars. 
More than two hundred millions worth of live stock is sold here yearly. Near them are enormous meat-packing 
establishments, with modern appliances of wonderful ingenuity. Packed meats alone exported from Chicago in yearly 

29 



/•/ 



value exceed one hundred millions of dollars, being about one-third of the entire export. The enormous importance 
of Chicago as a caterer of food for the world is thus made evident. 

It must be remembered that Chicago is all business and nothing but business. Even the little boys on the 
streets and in cars talk business with the gravity of old Stock-Exchange stagers. The dominant idea is to get rich, 
to be successful. A farmer standing on the corner of State and Madison Streets well described the rushing, push- 
ing throng that swept before him. " Seems to me," he said, " that there is a five-dollar bill somewhere in town, 
and all these people are determined to get it." Therefore we must talk business when we speak of Chicago. 

And what a manufacturing place it is ! In the making of agricultural implements alone seven millions of 
dollars are invested, with an annual product of sixteen millions of dollars. In carriage-making three millions are 
invested, with a product of five millions yearly. Then look at the other branches of industry. The yearly product 
of furniture is six and a half millions of dollars ; of clothing, eight millions ; of leather, six and a half millions ; of 
iron and steel, twenty millions : of planed lumber, fifteen and a half million's ; of printing, eight millions ; of malt 
liquors, six and a half millions ; of distilled liquors, eight and a half miUions ; of soap, three millions; of tobacco 
and cigars, five millions: of cut-stone, five millions; of chemicals, three millions. Besides vast quantities of flour, 
its products include sheet-metal, brass, hats, furs, confectionery, etc. These industries give steady employment to 
whole armies of men and women, among whom the scale of comfort is generally high, but not so high as it should 
be, considering the enormous profits they return, and that many of the men conducting them are millionaires many 
times over. 

R.\II.\V.-\VS. 

Chicago is undoubtedly the greatest railway centre in the world. Merely to enumerate the names of the 
various lines which centre there would fill several ])ages of this book. All these lines are splendidly equipped, 
solidly built, and managed with profound skill and sagacity. As the Romans of old said. All roads lead to Rome, so 
the Chicagoans of these days say, .\11 railways run to Chicago. 



LITERATURE AND ART. 

Here, as elsewhere, the rise of a wealthy, leisured class in the community has led to the cultivation of litera- 
ture and the development of artistic taste and endeavor. Already the culture of letters is redeeming the city from 
the stigma, attached to it so long, of being lacking in those accomplishments which give grace and elegance to the 
social life of a people. Chicago can now boast of possessing libraries of nearly first magnitude, educational institu- 
tions second to none in America, and rich musical and artistic development. Besides the Chicago Free Public' 
Library, before mentioned, the great Newberry Library, endowed with §2,500,000, occupies the Ogden block. It 
already contains forty thousand volumes in .American local history, biography, astronomy, music, and sociology.) 
This library is intended solely for purposes of reference. Should the will of the late John Crerar not be set aside, 
the §2, 225, 000 which he bequeathed will go to found a library in the South Division of Chicago. The Chicago 
Law Library has the largest collection of legal publications in the West, all United States statutes and records, and is 
considered one of the best Hbraries of its kind in America. There are, besides, the Chicago Athenaeum Library, 
the Chicago Historical Society Library, the Medical Society Library, the Lincoln Street Church Free Library, the 
Union Catholic Library, and the Young Men's Christian Association reading-rooms. 

There is a flourishing School of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago has large collections and loan col- 
lections of paintings, sculpture, and artistic objects. 

Public statues and monuments at Chicago are exceptionally fine. Her people have had the good sense to 
employ first-class artists, and are, therefore, pardonably proud of what they have achieved in this respect. St. 
Gauden's noble statue of Abraham Lincoln, in Lincoln Park, is alone worthy of a journey to Chicago to see. 
Count Leiaing's statue of La Salle, the Drexel Monument, the tall column bearing the statue of Douglass, Rebisco's 
equestrian statue of General Grant, and Partridge's statue of Shakespeare, are all works of commanding genius in 



the parks of Chicago, and afford conclusive proof that the instincts and aspirations of the people of Chicago point in 
the right direction and with unerring faithfulness to the good, the true, and the beautiful. 

THE P.'\RKS. 

Wisely has Chicago made ample provision for breathing-spjaces within her limits. Her parks have cost ten 
millions of dollars, and surround the city with a broad, life-bestowing belt of verdure. As yet the trees are young, 
and to eyes accustomed to the forest glories of the wooded regions farther East, they may appear spindling. But 
they have taken a deep grip of the rich prairie soil, and in time will give Chicago as noble avenues of umbrageous 
shade as will be found in any part of the world. The total area of these parks is over two thousand acres. They 
comprise Lincoln Park on the North, united to Humboldt Park, Garfield and Douglass Parks on the West, and these 
to the South Side parks, by a magnificent system of boulevards and parkways. Throughout the whole extent of 
these delightful pleasure-grounds are many acres of richly tinted flowers, verdant lawns, embryo forests, lakes, 
ponds, drives, and walks. There are also zoological gardens and extensive conservatories. If, as the saying is, 
parks are the lungs of a city, Chicago has the finest set that a generous purse, a great prairie, and wise intention 
could obtain, create, or bestow. Incomparably delightful is a drive through these parks of a summer afternoon 
when the breeze from the lake, the odors of the flowery prairie, the brilliant sunlight, and the bounding sense of 
freedom, which seems a living gift to humanity from the wide, wide West, fills the soul with Joy, and sends the 
pulses thrilling through every vein. Then Chicago is beautiful, and fulfils, if it be but for a little while, the hope 
in pursuit of which thousands have toiled across seas and over mountains: 

" To the \Ycst, to the West, to the lard of the free, 
Wliere the mighty Missouri rolls down to the sea, 
Where a man is a man, if he's willing to [oil, 
And the humblest may gather the fruits of the soil." 



Jackson Park, where the World's Fair is to I)e held, is situated in the southern part of the cit)-. It hes along 
the lake shore, and is united by a liroad avenue with Washington Park, which will also be used for the Exijosition. 
The grounds are not as spacious as those occui)ied by the World's Fair at Philadelphia, but they are (juite ample for 
all desired purposes. 

Chicago has entered upon this great undertaking with the vim and spirit which characterizes all her actions. 
In her bright lexicon there is no such word as fail. 

BO.ARD OF TRADE. 

The most famous institution in Chicago, and the one which has done more to give the city its reputation than 
any other, is its Board of Trade. Imagine a building as large as the largest church, but square and of massive cut 
stone. The whole interior except the basement is used as the Board Room, It is a nobly proportioned chamber 
with a lofty dome, supported on antitine, massive pillars of green marble. Their apparent antiquity suggests that 
they have been brought from some ancient temple in the Old World. On two sides great windows of stained glass 
flood the room with brilliantly tinted sunlight. A gallery is placed on the entrance side for the accommodation of 
visitors, and opposite it are blackboards against the wall where attendants mark down the prices as they are called 
from time to time. On the floor, which is really several acres in extent, are three " pits." These are square eleva- 
tions of three steps up on the outer, and three down on the inner sides. One is for wheat deals, the other for corn, 
and the third for provisions. When the writer visited the scene, there were large crowds of men standing in the.se 
pits and on the stejis, shouting, gesticulating, flinging their hands suddenly aloft with two or three fingers extended, 
passing mysterious tokens to each other, and taking short pencil-notes on little tablets which each held in his left 
hand. The noise was frightful. A managerie of wild beasts under strong excitement could not appear more frantic 
in their modes of expression. If the observer were not well assured that these men were all keen, practical business 
men, intent solely on making money, he would take them for a horde of lunatics let loose.. It was like an election 

33 



meeting in which all were trying to be heard at the same time. Such uproarious hustling, yelling, and undertone 
growling were never seen or heard. But this, we were assured was a heavenly calm compared to what the scene 
appears when some big excitement is upon account of a •' corner," or other deal of unusual magnitude. Millions of 
dollars' worth of grain and provisions change hands here every minute. Fortunes are made and lost. But no 
mistakes ever occur in the transactions. There is method in all this madness. Most of the men in the pits are 
brokers acting for speculators in the city and in other places. Here the prices are fixed by competition, registered, 
and clearances are made every evening. In the gallery were a number of women, who speculate as eagerly as the 
men. They could be seen calmly jotting down their notes, being evidently familiar with the din, and able to 
understand all that was going on. Of course they w-ere represented on the floor by brokers, as they have not yet 
reached that stage of emancipation when they can go into the pits themselves, and deal first hand on their own 
account. Altogether it is the most astonishing scene imaginable. It beggars description, but one can see at a 
glance that there is a terrible earnestness about it in which all the agonizing hopes and fears of gambling are 
sublimated to such a degree that one who comprehends its meaning ceases to be astonished at the frantic conduct 
of the men who surge and shout in and about these pits. 

THE STOCK YARDS. 

Among the many extraordinary sights to be seen in this great emporium of Western labor and enterprise noth- 
ing strikes the visitor as more extraordinary than the Stock Yards. Here we gain an idea of the stupendous produc- 
tive capacities of the Western States, and of the organizing and business abilities of the American people. 

The gate to the Chicago Stock Yards is marked by no stately pile of architectural grandeur, but with a plain 
though massive arch, with the simple inscription, " Union Stock Yards, Chartered 1865." \\'ithin there lies before 
the visitor a scene of interest tmlike anything to be seen elsewhere the wide world over. It is almost a city by itself 
and of immense dimensions, ^\'herever the eye wanders, the most intense activity prevails. The four hundred acres 

34 



are so laid out that every inch is utiUzed to the best possible advantage, an iinljmited capital and' the best executive 
skill being brought to bear with the view to developing the immense traffic which has here been brought into existence. 
With 200 acres devoted to yardage alone, 20 miles of streets, 20 miles of water-troughs, 50 miles of feeding-troughs, 
75 miles of drainage and water-pipes, and a capacity of caring daily for 20,000 cattle, 15,000 sheep, and 125,000 
hogs — hardly any day seeing in existence any part of the previous day's supply — it is no wonder that an activity pre- 
vails entirely beyond the expectations of the a\-erage visitor. 

The regularity and system which govern everything in and about the Stock Yards is at once apparent. The 
cattle, sheep, and hog pens are all laid out in divisions distinct from each other, much as in a well-regulated city ; 
streets intersect each other through blocks of pens, with a gate entrance to each. At convenient points feed and 
storehouses are located, and at suital^le intervals stand immense scales with offices under the jurisdiction of the cor- 
poration. The building of the pens is of a very substantial kind, and every detail which will contribute to the 
effectual handling of such multitudes of animals is carefully attended to. The pens are provided with hay-racks and 
water-troughs, and the feeding is done under the supervision of the company. When it is taken into consideration 
that there are often to be cared for some 40,000 to 50,000 hogs, 20,000 cattle, and 5,000 sheep, with a constant 
stream of railroad traffic incoming and outgoing, one can imagine something of the «'ork and care necessary ; yet so 
systematically is everything arranged that no interest is left unprovided for, and no item of expenditure escapes its 
proper assignment. 

The plant of the Stock Yards Company ]5roper represents about §5,000.000, and about a thousand employees 
work for the company. The general office is in the Exchange Building, to which the public have free access, and 
where every possible courtesy is accorded. Here are comjiiied the statistics of the business; a bank and telegraph 
office are here located, as also the hundreds of offices of commission men, with a public bulletin-lioard where are 
posted the various items of supply and prices of the market. 

How the traffic has grown since the organization of the company can be gauged from the statistics of that 
time and the present. In 1865 the number of cattle jiacked was 27,172 ; in 1890, 2,206,185 ; the numbers of 

35 



hogs packed, respectively, were 507.355 and 4,473,467 ; while the numbers of cattle received (a great ninnber of both 
cattle and hogs are shipped out alive) were 330.301 and 3.4S4.280, and of hogs, 849,311 and 7,678,095, resijectively. 
Add to this, for 1S90, the receipt of over 2,000,000 .shee]!, 100,000 horses, and nearly 200,000 calves, and note that 
there were shipped out, cattle, 1,270,000.; calves, 65,000; hogs, nearly 2.000,000; and over 1,000,000 sheep and 
horses — and an estimate may be had of the immense business interests which are cared for daily b)^ the company. 
The number of firms doing business in the yards as packers and otherwise is about 100, of whom about twenty are 
more or less prominently identified with the meat-curing business. The various plants are estimated as worth 
about Si2,ooo.ooo, with a capital of about 525,000,000, and the number of employees about 25,000, with an an- 
nual wage of about ;52,ooo,ooo. The estimated value of the products for the year just passed has been placed at 
5150,000,000. 

SOCIAL LIFE. 

To a philosopher who had the time to study it the social life of Chicago would present many profoundly 
interesting problems. Society, as the term is conventionally understood, is pretty much the same here as in other 
American cities. It presents no points worthy of particular mention. But below the business surface of this 
great city there is a dark, unfathomed tide of whose drift only occasional events give more or less startling indica- 
tions. Of such was the Haymai-ket Riot in May, 1886. On that occasion a mob of Nihilists ]nit their destruc- 
tive theories in practice by throwing bombs, killing a number of policemen, and rudely awakening the people of 
America to the fact that the viper hatched by European despotism was as ready to shovi- its fangs in Chicago under 
free institutions as in Russia under an autocrat. 

The ijolice force of Chicago is a powerful, well-disciplined, and capable bodv of men. ^Vhen the fatal 
bombs were thrown they gave convincing proof of their courage and firmness. With many of their comrades 
lying dead or wounded from the explosions, they fearlessly, shoulder to shoulder, closed in upon the rioters, dis- 
persed the mob, and arrested the ringleaders. Their conduct won the applause of the world and the enthusiastic 

36 



gratitude of the citizens of Chicago. To commemorate the event and to siiow their admiration for the courageous 
conduct of the police, as well as to [jreserve the memory of the men who fell in the discharge of their duty, the 
citizens erected a monument on the spot where the tragedy took place. 

Standing on a granite pedestal is the figure in bronze of a policeman with his right hand upraised. On the 
tablet below is engraved this legend : 

" In the Name of the People of Illinois I Command Peace." 

The whole conception of the figure, its pose, and the lesson it inculcates, could not be finer. The only 
objection that can be made is that the pedestal is not high or massive enough to give the statue a sufficiently impos- 
ing elevation. 

Four of the Nihilist ringleaders were tried, found guilty, and hanged for the Haymarket murders, and it 
was thought that this salutary example would stamp out the conspiracy. But it did not, for quite recently the 
Nihilists have begun to show an evil activity. Strange to say, they have many sympathizers among the people of 
Chicago; but, as Mayor Washbnrne said, when taken to task for allowing the police to raid a meeting of alleged 
Nihilists, "There can be no fooling with this thing ; wherever Nihilism shows its head we v.ill jump on it with 
both feet." 

It is not nece.ssary to live long in Chicago to be aware that the dangerous element is strong and capable of 
mischief. In this respect Chicago resembles Paris, Berlin, and London. How could it be otherwise? Many of 
the most discontented, revolutionary spirits of the two continents have gravitated to Chicago. Not only are 
Nihilists plentiful, but the Mafia flourishes as an occasional Italian assassination indicates. The foreign population 
of all nationalities is very large, and nearly all of them have their peculiar secret societies transplanted from their 
native lands. A gentleman who knows something of these organizations told the writer that foreigners would 
gladly shake themselves free of this secret yoke, but they cannot, for their lives would pay the penalty of the 

37 



attcni])t. These foreign orders are governed l>y laws of their own, and their memhcrs seldom, if ever, seek redress 
in the courts. 

Another aspect of the social life of the people in this strange city is to be seen in its divorce court.s. 
Daring one of these sittings, in December, 1891,3 city daily paper referred to the celerity with which one of the 
judges got through the business: "Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. his honor listened to twenty-si.x applications for 
divorce. The time of hearing averaged seven minutes, including the few minutes consumed in dismissing and 
calling cases, and swearing witnesses, and entering the minutes on the book. But some cases were disposed of in 
lour minutes." 

But this is just like Chicago. One must not expect old-fashioned ideas that prevail in less advanced com- 
munities to hold sway in Chicago. But, in si>ite of these vagaries of a new and somewhat inchoate state of society, 
produced by the bringing together of many diverse elements under a broadly democratic system of government, 
respectability, which includes the God-fearing and law-abiding element in the populatioii, is the ruling power in 
Chicago. As the city grows older and settles down, so to speak, these youthful exuberances will be repressed and 
the social life of the people of Chicago become as steady, circumspect, and conservative as in other cities. 

It has been well said of Chicago that her greatness and her attractiveness have been accomplished through 
energy, i)ulilic spirit, and that " long pull, and strong jnill, and pull altogether" system which has made it what 
it is, and transformed a sandy, swampy flat, stale and unprofitable barren land, into a chain of beautiful parks and 
jileasurances. Utterly lacking the rolling contours, the hold rocky heights, and picturesque glens that have been 
u.sed to such admirable advantage in the great Central Park of New York, Chicago has shown her indomitable 
enterpri.se and daring spirit in nothing more than in her determination to make grace and beauty spring into being 
where nature herself had set her ban. This achievement alone bears convincing testimony to the soundness of the 
social instincts of the people of Chicago. 

But there are other and still better evidences of culture. The amount of money invested in the organiza- 
tion of the Chicago public-school system is fifty millions of dollars. The number of pupils attending the free 

.^8 



public schools in 1892 was over one hundred and thirty-five thousand daily.' There are nearly three thousand 
teachers, and the cost of maintaining the system is close on four millions annuall}-. There are three hundred and 
forty-one academies and seminaries in Chicago, three universities, and no less than seven hundred and eighty-six 
private schools. The number of daily newspapers is thirty-four ; weekly, two hundred and fifty ; periodicals, five 
hundred and thirty-one. The production of books in the city in 1890 reached the enormous aggregate of eight 
millions. There are twenty-five large hospitals in the city, and thirty-four charitable asylums. The amount 
expended in pulilic charity, annually, is over fifty millions, and in private charity, three millions. There are 
three hundred and twenty churches in Chicago, six hundred and eighty-seven literary organizations, forty-six 
gentlemen's and innumerable family and social clubs. These figures briefly convey whole volumes of information 
concerning the higher life of the people of Chicago, and give the best auguries of the future greatness of their city as 
a social and political power in the nation. 

THE LAKE FRONT. 

As the Adriatic was to the Venetians, the Nile to the Egyptians, the Tiber to the Romans, so is Lake Michi- 
gan to the Chicagoans. They love it, take constant delight in it, and it would not be astonishing were some future 
mayor of Chicago to formally wed it to the city, as the Doges of Venice wedded the Adriatic, from the bows of the 
Bucentaur. 

For a good twenty-four miles the city extends along the lake shore, with a width of ten miles constantly in- 
creasing westward, and soon to spread indefinitely. The present area is one hundred and eighty-five square miles. 
On Sundays and hoUdays the Lake Front, the parks, and the boulevards are the great resorts of the people. Here 
they swarm for air and recreation, where rapidly running steamers, white-winged yachts, and a myriad of skiffs, row- 
boats, canoes, and fairy sloops bear the joyous holiday-makers over the shining waters. Here the laborer and the 
factory hand have ample space to enjoy the air and sunshine after the soot and dust of the " temples of industry " 
where they earn their living. For ten cents they can take a trip to the huge government piers, to the crib of the in- 

39 



take of the city water- works, two miles from shore, to the sandy flats at Jackson Park, fast undergoing transformation 
in preparation for the World's Fair, and where the vast graceful structures to accommodate the exhibitions of the 
products of the nations are fast taking shape under the hands of an army of workmen. All North Chicago, that por- 
tion of the city which lies above the river and east of the shallow, tortuous North branch, does its driving along the 
beautiful lake-shore road, or the Sheridan drive beyond. When the wind is high the great greenish waves roll their 
long white crests high against the sea-wall, cooling and flushing the faces of the thousands who come hither for a touch 
of nature in the wild frolics of her unchecked freedom. All South Chicago gathers on the broad boulevards toward 
the southern parks. All West Chicago takes the air in Ashland, Washington, or Douglass Boulevards, or in Garfield, 
or Humboldt Parks. 

It is intended, however, to complete the circuit of the drives around the city. The north shore and river 
drive, which now has its southern limit at Elm Street, is to be carried out into the lake on a broad boulevard, passing 
round the huge granite water-works, striking the beach again at the foot of Ohio Street, only four blocks above the 
river, and there to be lifted on a high steel truss whose swing will only open to the tallest-masted vessels. Thus the 
mouth of the Chicago River will be bridged, and the drive by parks and boulevards around the city made complete. 
When finished there will be nothing to equal it in America. 

Beyond the limits of the city proper there is a broad cordon of mammoth manufactories, stretching far out 
over the prairie, and beyond these are a hundred or more of the brightest, prettiest suburban villages to be found any- 
where. These are interspersed with jiarks and groves, winding streams, and perfectly kept driveways ; and in every 
direction, at all hours of the day and night, the trains of the many railways are speeding meteor-like across the level 
plains. 

Chicago, unlike other cities, has no old town, no quarter which, as in London, goes by the nameof " the City." 
All Eastern cities have a narrow-strceted, dingy, antiquated region, which was " the " city before the era of urban 
expansion set in. There is nothing of the kind in Chicago. What might have answered to that description was 
swept clean away by the great fire, and, when rebuilt, the streets were all made grandly broad, commodious, and at 

40 



right angles. About the heart of the business part of the South Side, the buildings that are now towering up from 
fifteen to twenty stones high, dwarf the structures that only a little while ago were considered palatial. Thus the 
Post-Ofiice and Custom-House appear " squat " amid the soaring towers of Babel that surround it on all sides. Should 
this system of high construction continue, the streets in this part of the city will resemble the canons of Colorado. 
But they seem necessitated by need for office room close to the centres of business, where a minute's time is often of 
the utmost consequence. 

The hotels of Chicago are a feature of its life in themselves. F'amous the world over for their vast extent, 
they are each a perfect little world and thoroughly cosmopolitan. All of them are now conducted on the European 
plan. The traveller hires a room or asuite of rooms, and orders his meals to suit himself, either in the hotel or at any 
of the numerous restaurants. He can regulate his e.\])enses according to his means, but it will not take him long to 
discover that jjtice is no criterion of quality. It is astonishing, however, how well and how cheaply a man can live 
in Chicago when he gets to know the run of the city. 

The climate is pleasant and healthy, with an occasional touch of Canadian severity in the winter months. 
Perpetual breezes blow over the prairies, modifying the summer heats, while the great open basin of Lake Michigan 
has the effect of making the neighboring regions warmer in winter and cooler in summer than in the same latitude 
farther west. The seasons occur with great regularity, though the fluctuations are often sudden and great. The vital 
statistics show Chicago to be a healthy city, while the abundance with which the soil produces its stores in the sur- 
rounding country testifies to its capacity to supjjort a dense population. 

This is the best theatre city in America. There are no le.ss than twenty-six of these places of amusement, all 
of which are well patronized, and some of them give performances every night in the week, including Sundays. 
Nearly all the saloons and restaurants are open on Sunday, the same as on other days, but the custom does not seem 
to have a demoralizing effect. Men drink their beer or their liquor as usual, and a drunken man is a rare sight 
indeed, on the streets of Chicago. 

As might be supposed from what has already been written, Chicago is the most tolerant city in the world. 

41 



Not only do all sorts of religious faiths flourish side by side without contention, but there is a well-defined bond of 
sympathy among even the most opposite of them. This may possibly be caused by the fact that the non-religious 
element, the element that not only does not go to church, but is absolutely indifferent to. and wholly untouched by, 
any religious sentiment whatever, is very large in Chicago. In the jiresence of this spiritually inert mass the be- 
lievers in the higher life sink their minor dilTerences, and are glad to recognize a brother whatever his faith, so long 
as he has a faith of some kind. This remarkable condition of affairs in the religious world has given Chicago di- 
vines an opportunity to inaugurate a movement unique in the history of religious thought. They ]iropose to hold, 
during the World's Fair in 1S93, a congress in which the representatives of all known phases of religious belief will 
meet for mutual counsel. 

The report of Dr. Burrows, chairman of the Committee on Religious Congresses, is in itself a remarkable docu- 
ment. The committee has held communication with leading representatives of all faiths regarding the ]iroposed 
cecimienical conference, and the replies received are uniformly favorable to the idea. Certainly, the endorsement of 
the movement is most broadly representative and influential. 

In effect, the proposed conference will be a parliament of religions. Catholics and Protestants. Jews. Greeks, 
Buddhists, Brahmans, Confucians, Parsees, and Mohammedans are expected to sit together in friendly conference over 
common truths and common reforms. Broadly speaking, it will be an ethical conference in which creeds will be 
lost sight of temporarily, and the great moral forces that work for the betterment of mankind will be discussed with- 
out reference to particular beliefs. 

The recent conference between Jews and Christians in Chicago attracted the attention of the civilized world. 
Important as this conference was, it can scarcely be compared to the comprehensive gathering of religious teachers 
and workers that is proposed for 1893. The success of the latter is undoubtedly assured, and the mere holding of 
such a conference will be no small achievement for tolerant and progressive Chicago. 



42 



.„ic^ 



Tin: WORLD'S FAIR. 

The people of this most progressive of cities know how to appreciate a good advertisement. This they have 
in the World's Columl^ian Exjiosition of 1093. Why the term " Exposition " was chosen does not seem clear. It 
is not as good or as acceptable a word as Exhibition. However, that is a small matter. Chicago is conscious of 
having the eyes of the earth fixed upon her, and she is determined to act up to the utmost of her reputation. She 
has also to disarm the jealous criticisms of her great rival, New York. She must, therefore, not only make the 
World's Fair a success, but it must be a success without approach or parallel on any former or similar occasion in anyA 
nation. London must be beaten out of sight, Paris reduced to a mere side-show, Philadelphia absolutely squelched. ^ 
Nothing le.ss will satisfy Chicago. Such being her determination, and knowing the spirit which animates her, we ' 
may be calmly assured that her Exposition will be the greatest affair of the kind that has ever been known, or, per-i 
haps, ever will be known. It will be the culmination of the World's Fair business, for in the present state of the! 
nations, it is evident to thinking minds that the long impending break must take place before another exhibition of 
the kind can be organized in Europe, and America is not likely to repeat the venture again for many years. 

Much more could be written about Chicago, for it is a vortex in which the activities of the world are concen- "^ 
trated. Looking down on it from the dizzy summit of the Masonic Temple, strange thoughts must fill the mind of 
him who has tra\-elled far, who has seen the ruins of empires, empires in decay, and this new empire of the West j 
rising with a civilization greater, more intense, more free, more universal than all that preceded it. That it has a/ 
most glorious future is beyond doubt. 



43 



THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING. 

Delightfully located near the lake shore, south of the main lagoon and of the area reserved for the foreign 
nations and the several States, and east of the Woman's Building and of Midway Plaisance, is the Government Ex- 
hibit Building. The buildings of England, Germany, and Mexico are near by to the northward. The Government 
Building was designed by Architect Windrim, now succeeded by W. J. Edbrooke. It is classic in style, and bears 
a strong resemblance to the National Museum and other Government buildings at Washington. It covers an area of 
350 by 420 feet, is constructed of iron and glass, and cost S400.000. Its leading architectural feature is an impos- 
ing central dome 120 feet in diameter and 150 feet high, the floor of which will be kept fre'e from exhibits. The 
building fronts to the west and connects on the north, by a bridge over the lagoon, with the building of the Fish- 
eries exhibit. 

The south half of the Government Building is devoted to the exhibits of the Post-Office Department, Treas- 
ury Department, ^\■ar Department, and Department of Agriculture. The north half is devoted to the exhibits of 
the Fisheries Commission, Smithsonian Institute and Interior Department. The State Department exhibit extends 
from the rotunda to the east end, and that of the Department of Justice from the rotunda to the west end of the 
building. The allotment of space for the several department exhibits is : War Department, 23,000 square feet ; 
Treasury, 10,500 square feet ; Agriculture, 23,250 square feet; Interior, 24,000 square feet; Post-Office, 9,000 
square feet; Fishery, 20,000 square feet, and Smitlisonian Institute, balance of space. 



44 



THE HORTICULTURAL BUILDING. 

Immediately south of the entrance to Jackson Park from the Midway Plaisance, and facing east on the la- 
goon, is the Horticultural Building. In front is a flower terrace for outside exhibits, including tanks for Nymphtea 
and the Victoria Regia. The front of the terrace, with its low parapet between large vases, borders the water, and 
at its centre forms a boat landing. 

The building is i.ooo feet long, with an extreme width of 250 feet. The plan is a central pavilion with 
two end pavilions, each connected with the central one by front and rear curtains, forming two interior courts, each 
88 by 270 feet. These courts are beautifully decorated in color and planted with ornamental shrubs and flowers. 
The centre of the pavilion is roofed by a crystal dome 1S7 feet in diameter and 113 feet high, under which are 
exhibited the tallest palms, bamboos, and tree-ferns that can be procured. There are galleries in each of the pavil- 
ions. The galleries of the end pavilions are designed for cafes, the situation and the surroundings being particu- 
larly adapted to recreation and refreshment. These cafes are surrounded by an arcade on three sides from which 
charming views of the grounds can be obtained. 

In this building are exhibited all the varieties of flowers, plants, vines, seeds, horticultural implements, etc. 
Those exhibits requiring sunshine and light are shown in the rear curtains, where the roof is entirely of glass and not 
too far removed from the plants; The front curtains and space under the galleries are designed for exhibits that 
require only the ordinary amount of light. Provision is made to heat such parts as require it. 

The exterior of the building is in " staff," tinted in a soft warm buff", color being reserved for the interior 
and the courts. 

The cost of this building was about $300,000. W. L. B. Jenny, of Chicago, is the architect. 

45 



THE FORESTRY BUILDING. 

The Forestry Building is in appearance tlie most unique of all the Exposition structures. Its dimensions are 
200 by 500 feet. To a remarkable degree its architecture is of the rustic order. On all four sides of the building is 
a veranda, supporting the roof of which is a colonnade consisting of a series of columns composed of three tree- 
trunks each 25 feet in length, one of them from 16 to 20 inches in diameter and the others smaller. All of these 
trunks are left in their natural state, with hark undisturbed. They are contributed by the different States and Ter- 
ritories of the Union, and by foreign countries, each furnishing specimens of its most characteristic trees. 'I'he 
sides of the building are constructed of slabs with the bark removed. The window-frames are treated in the same 
rustic manner as is the rest of the building. The main entrances are elaborately finished in different kinds of wood, 
the material and workmanship being contributed by several prominent lumber associations. The roof is thatched 
with tan and other barks. The visitor can make no mistake as to the kinds of tree-trunks which form the colonnade, 
for he will see upon each a tablet upon which is inscribed the common and scientific name, the State or country 
from which the trunk was contributed, and other pertinent information, such as the approximate quantity of such 
timber in the region whence it came. Surmounting the cornice of the veranda and extending all around the build- 
ing are numerous flagstafTs bearing the colors, coats of arms, etc., of the nations and States represented in the exhib- 
its inside. 



46 



THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING. 

By popular verdict the Administration Building is pronounced the gem and crown of the Exposition palaces. 
It is located at the west end of the great court in the southern part of the site, looking eastward, and at its rear are 
the transportation facilities and depots. The most conspicuous object which will attract the gaze of visitors on 
reaching the grounds is the gilded dome of this lofty building. This imposing edifice will cost about §450,000. 
The architect is Richard M. Hunt, President of the American Institute of Architects, to whose established reputation 
it is a notable contribution. It covers an area of 260 feet square and consists of four pavilions 84 feet square, one at 
each of the four angles of the square, and connected by a great central dome 120 feet in diameter and 220 feet in 
height, leaving at the centre of each fa<;'ade a recess 82 feet wide, within which are the grand entrances to the build- 
ing. The general design is in the style of the French renaissance. The first great story is in the Doric order, of 
heroic proportions, surrounded by a lofty baliKtrade and having the great tiers of the angle of each pavilion crowned 
with sculpture. The second story, with its lofty and spacious colonnade, is of the Ionic order. 

The four great entrances, one on each side of the building, are go feet v/ide and 50 feet high, deeply recessed 
and covered by semicircular arched vaults, richly coffered. In the rear of these arches are the entrance doors, and 
above them great screens of glass, giving light to the central rotunda. Across the face of these screens, at the level 
of the office floor, are galleries of communication between the different pavilions. 

The interior features of this great building even exceed in beauty and splendor tho.se of the exterior. 
Between every two of the grand entrances, and connecting the intervening pavilion with the great rotunda, is a hall 

47 



or loggia 30 feet square, giving access to the offices and provided with broad, circular stairways and swift-running 
elevators. 

Above the balcony is the second story, 50 feet in height. From the top of the cornice of this story rises the 
interior dome, 200 feet from the floor, and in the centre is an opening 50 feet in diameter, transmitting a flow of 
light from the e.\terior dome overhead. The under side of the dome is enriched with deep panellings, richly 
moulded, and the panels are filled with sculpture in low relief, and immense paintings representing the ai'ts and 
sciences. In size thii rotunda rivals, if it does not surpass, the most celebrated domes of a similar character in the 
world. 

THE M.ACHIXERY HALL. 

M.A.CHINERY Hall, of which Peabody & Stearns, of Boston, are the architects, has been pronounced by many 
architects second only to the Administration Building in the magnificence of its appearance. This building meas- 
ures S50 by 500 feet, and, with the Machinery .^nne.x and Power House, cost about $1,200,000. It is located at the 
extreme south end of the Park, midway between the shore of Lake Michigan and the west line of the Park. It is 
just south of the Administration Building, and west and across a lagoon from the Agricultural Building. The build- 
ing is spanned by three arched trus.ses, and the interior presents the appearance of three railroad train-houses side by 
side, surrounded on all the four sides by a gallery fifty feet wide. The trusses are built separately, so that they can be 
taken down and sold for use as railroad train-houses. In each of the long naves there is an elevated travelling crane 
running from end to end of the building for the purpose of moving machinery. These platforms are built so that 
visitors may view from them the exhibits beneath. The power from this building is supplied from a power-house 
adjoining the south side of the building. 



48 



THE ELECTRICAL BUILDING. 

The Electrical Building, the seat of perhaps the most novel and brilliant exhibit in the whole Exposition, is 
345 feet wide and 700 feet long, the major axis running north and south. The south front is on the great Quad- 
rangle or Court ; the north front faces the lagoon ; the east front is opposite the Manufactures Building, and the 
west faces the Mines Building. 

The general scheme of the plan is based upon a longitudinal nave 115 feet wide and 114 feet high, crossed in 
the middle by a transept of the same width and height. The nave and the transept have a pitched roof, with a 
range of skylights at the bottom of the pitch, and clearstory windows. The rest of the Ixiilding is covered with a 
flat roof, averaging 62 feet in height, and provided with skylights. 

The second story is composed of a series of galleries connected across the nave by two bridges, with access by 
four grand staircases. The area of the galleries in the second story is 118,546 square feet, or 2.7 acres. 

The exterior walls of this building are composed of a continuous Corinthian order of pilasters, 3 feet 6 inches 
wide and 42 feet high, supporting a full entablature, and resting upon a stylobate 8 feet 6 inches. The total height 
of the walls from the grade outside is 68 feet 6 inches. 

At each of the four corners of the building there is a pavilion, above which rises a light open spire or tower 
169 feet high. Intermediate between these corner pavilions and the central pavilions on the east and west sides, 
there is a subordinate pavilion bearing a low square dome upon an open lantern. 

The Electricity Building has an open portico extending along the whole of the south fac^ade, the lower or 

49 



Ionic order forming an open screen in front of it. The various subordinate pavilions are treated with windows and 
balconies. The details of the exterior orders are richly decorated, and the pediments, friezes, panels, and spandrils 
have received a decoration of figures in relief, with architectural motifs, the general tendency of which is to illustrate 
the purposes of the building. 

The appearance of the e.xterior is that of marble, but the walls of the hemicycle and of the various porticos 
and loggie are highly enriched with color, the pilasters in these places being decorated with scagliola, and the capi- 
tals with metallic effects in bronze. 

Van Brunt & Howe, of Kansas City, are the architects. The cost is $375,000. 



5° 



THE HALL OF MLNES AND AHNING. 

Located at the southern extremity of the western lagoon or lake, and between the Electricity and Transpor- 
tation Buildings, is the Mines and Mining Building. This building is 700 feet long by 350 feet wide, and the 
architect is S. S. Beman, of Chicago. Its architecture has its inspiration in early Italian renaissance, with which 
sufficient liberty is taken to invest the building with the animation that should characterize a great general Exposi- 
tion. There is a decided French spirit pervading the exterior design, but it is kept well subordinated. In plan it 
is simple and straightforward, embracing on the ground floor spacious vestibules, restaurants, toilet-rooms, etc. On 
each of the four sides of the building are placed the entrances, those of the north and south fronts being the most 
spacious and prominent. To the right and left of each entrance, inside, start broad flights of easy stairs leading to 
the galleries. The galleries are 60 feet wide and 25 feet high from the ground floor, and are lighted on the .sides by 
large windows, and from above by a high clearstory extending around the building. 

The main fronts look southward on the great Central Court, and northward on the western and middle lakes, 
and an island gorgeous with flowers. These principal fronts display enormous arched entrances, richly embellished 
with sculi)tural decorations emblematic of mining and its allied industries. At each end of these fronts are large 
square pavilions, surmounted by low domes, which mark the four corners of the building, and are lighted by large 
arched windows extending through the galleries. 

Between the main entrance and the pavilions are richly decorated arcades, forming an open loggia on the 
ground floor, and a deeply recessed promenade on the gallery-floor level, which commands a fine view of the lakes 
and islands to the northward and the great Central Court on the south. These covered promenades are each 25 feet 
wide and 230 feet long, and from them is had access to the building at numerous points. These loggie on the first 
floor are faced with marbles of different kinds and hues, which will be considered part of the Mining Exhibit, and 
so utilized as to have marketable value at the close of the Exposition. The loggie ceilings will be heavily coffered, 
and richly decorated in plaster and color. The ornamentation is massed at the prominent points of the facade. The 
exterior presents a massive, though graceful, ap[)earance. ^ 

5« 



THE MANUFACTURES AND LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING. 

Notable for its symmetrical proportions, tlie Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building is the mammoth struct- 
ure of the Exposition. It measures 1.687 by 787 feet, and covers nearly thirty-one acres, being the largest Exposi- 
tion building ever constructed. Within the building a gallery 50 feet wide extends around all four sides, and pro- 
jecting from this are 86 smaller galleries, 12 feet wide, from which visitors may survey the vast array of exhibits and 
the bi°sy scene below. The galleries are approached upon the main floor by 30 great staircases, the flights of which 
are 12 feet wide each. " Columbia Avenue," 50 feet wide, extends through the mammoth building longitudinally, 
and an avenue of like width crosses it at right angles at the centre. The main roof is of iron and glass, and arches 
an area 385 by 1.400 feet, and has its ridge 150 feet from the ground. The building, including its galleries, has 
about fortv acres of floor space. 

The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building is in the Corinthian style of architecture, and in point of being 
severely classic excels nearly all of the other edifices. The long array of columns and arches, which its facades pre- 
sent, is relieved from monotony by very elaborate ornamentation. In this ornamentation female figures, symbolical 
of the various arts and sciences, play a conspicuous and very attractive part. 

The exterior of the building is covered with " staff," which is treated to represent marble. The huge fluted 
columns and the immense arches are apparently of this beautiful material. 

There are ibur great entrances, one in the centre of each facade. These are designed in the manner of tri- 
umphal arches, the central archway of each being 40 feet wide and So feet high. Surmounting these portals is the 

52 



great attic stor_v onianiented with sculptured eagles i8 feet high.' and on each side above the side arches are great 
panels with inscriptions, and the spandrils are filled with sculptiu'cd figures in bas-relief. At each corner of the 
main building are pavilions forming great arched entrances, which are designed in harmony with the great portals. 

The building occupies a most conspicuous place in the grounds. It faces the lake, with only lawns and 
promenades between. North of it is the United States Government building, south the Harbor and in-jutting la- 
goon, and west the Electrical Building and the lagoon separating it from the great island, which in part is wooded 
and in part resplendent with acres of bright flowers of varied hues. 

THE DAIRY BUILDING. 

The Dairy Building, by reason of the exceptionally novel and interesting exhibits it will contain, is quite 
sure to be regarded with great favor by World's Fair visitors in general, while by agriculturists it will be considered 
one of the most useful and attractive features of the whole Exposition. It was designed to contain not only a com- 
plete exhibit of dairy products but also a Dairy School, in connection with which will be conducted a series of tests 
for determining the relative merits of different breeds of dairy cattle as milk and butter producers. 

The building stands near the lake shore, in the southeastern part of the park, and close by the general live 
stock exhibit. It covers approximately half an acre, measuring 95 by 200 feet, is two stories high, and cost $30,000. 
In design it is of quiet exterior. On the first floor, besides office head-quarters, there is in front a large open space 
devoted to exhibits of butter, and farther back an operating-room 25 by 100 feet, in which the Model Dairy will be 
conducted. On two sides of this room are amphitheatre seats capable of accommodating 400 spectators. Under 
these seats are refrigerators and cold storage-rooms for the care of the dairy products. The operating-room, which 
extends to the roof, has on three sides a gallery where the cheese exhibits will be placed. The rest of the second 
story is devoted to a cafe, which opens on a balcony overlooking the lake. 

The Dairy School, it is believed, wdll be most instructive and valuable to agriculturists. 

53 



THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 

AMONO a c^reat number of sketches submitted in competition for this building by women from all over the 

land tht Prele, t of the Board of Lady Managers quickly discovered in the sketch submUted by hss Soph.a . 

Svdc-n that harmonv of grouping and gracefulness of details .h,ch indicate the architectural scholar, and to her 

was' awarded the first prize of a thousand dollars, and also the execution of the design. ^ ^ , . ■ „, 

Dtectly .n front of the building the lagoon takes the form of a bay. about four hundred fee in width. 

T. .K rVof his bav a ^.rand landing and staircase leads to a terrace six feet above the water. Crossing this 

te^rl^e o^hTr irca^^ gi I/clt the grlind four feet above, on which, about one hundred feet f.ck, the build- 

ng si d The first terrace is designed in artistic flower-beds and low shrubs The principal ^^.ade has an 

SreirTength of 400 feet, the depth of the building being half this distance. Italian renaissance is the style 

''''''''The first story is raised about ten feet from the ground line, and a wide staircase leads to the centre pavilion. 
This p J Lr ormil the main triple-arched entrance, with an open colonnade m the second story, is finished with 
a ?:V;:dim:;t Iriched with a highly elaborate bas-relief. The corner pavilions have each an open colonnade 

^''' t::;r;^:^"eadf^:^ - - -^^^ --^ - -^^^^ °?' ts 

and proVe ted by a richly ornamented skylight. This rotunda is surrounded by a two-story open arcade, as delicate 
Ind chastl in design as tl exterior, the whole having a thoroughly Italian courtyard effect, admitting abundance of 



light to all rooms facing this interior space. On the first floor are located, on the left hand, a model hospital ; on 
the right, a model kindergarten, each occupying 80 by 60 feet. 

The whole floor of the south pavilion is devoted to the retrospective e.xhibit ; the one on the north to reform 
work and charity organization. Each of these floors is 80 by 200 feet. The curtain opposite the main front contains 
the Library, Bureau of Information, records, etc. 

In the second story are located ladies' parlors, committee-rooms, and dressing-rooms, all leading to the open 
balcony in front. The whole second floor of the north pavilion incloses the great assembly-room and club-room 
The first of these is provided with an elevated stage for the accommodation of speakers. The south pavilion con- 
tains the model kitchen, refreshment-rooms, reception-rooms, etc. 

The building is encased with " staff," the same material used on the rest of the buildings, and as it stands 
with its mellow, decorated walls bathed in the bright sunshine the women of the country are justly proud of the 
result. 



55 



THE AGRICULTURAL BUILDING. 

One of the most magnificent structures raised for the Exposition is the Agricultural Building. The style of 
architecture is classic renaissance. This building i.s put up very near the shore of Lake Michigan, and is almost 
surrounded by the lagoons that lead into the Park from the lake. The building is 500 by 800 feet, its longest dimen- 
sions being east and west. For a single story building the design is bold and heroic. The general cornice line is 
65 feet above grade. On either side of the main entrance are mammoth Corinthian pillars, 50 feet high and 5 feet 
in diameter. On each corner and from the centre of the building pavilions are reared, the centre one being 144 
feet square. The corner pavilions are connected by curtains, forming a continuous arcade around the top of the 
building. The main entrance leads through an opening 64 feet wide into a vestibule, from which entrance is had to 
the rotunda, 100 feet in diameter. This is surmounted by a mammoth glass dome 130 feet high. All through the 
main vestibule statuary has been designed, illustrative of the agricultural industry. Similar designs are grouped 
about all of the grand entrances in the most elaborate manner. The corner pavilions are surmounted by domes 96 
feet high, and above these tower groups of statuary. The design for these domes is that of three female figures, of 
herculean proportions, supporting a mammoth globe. 

To the southward of the Agricultural Building is a spacious structure devoted chiefly to a Live Stock and 
Agricultural Assembly Hall. This building is conveniently near one of the stations of the elevated railway. On 
the first floor, near the main entrance of the building, is located a bureau of information. This floor also contains 
suitable committee and other rooms for the different live-stock associations. On this floor there are also large and 
handsomely equipped waiting-rooms. Broad stairways lead from the first floor into the Assembly-room, which has 
a seating capacity of about 1,500. This Assembly-room furnishes facilities for lectures, delivered by gentlemen emi- 
nent in their special fields of work, embracing every interest connected with live stock, agriculture, and allied 
industries. 

. -56 



THE ART PALACE. 

, ., ,. Grecian-Ionic in style, the Fine Arts Building is a pure type of the most refined classic architecture The 
building ,s oblong and is 500 by 320 feet, intersected north, east, south, and west by a great nave and transept 100 
feet wide and 70 feet high, at the intersection of which is a dome 60 feet in diameter. The building is 12. feet to 
the top of the dome, which is surmounted by a colossal statue of the type of the famous figure of Winged Victory 
Ihe transept has a clear space through the centre of 60 feet, beinj? lighted entirely from above 

On either side are galleries 20 feet wide and 24 feet abo^•e the fioor. The 'collections of the sculpture are dis- 
played on the mam floor of the nave and transept, and on the walls both of the ground floor and of the s^alleries are 
ample areas for displaying the paintings and sculptured panels in relief The corners made by the crossing, of the 
nave and transept are filled with small picture galleries. " 

Around the entire building are galleries 40 feet wide, forming a continuous promenade around the classic 
structure. Between tlie promenade and the naves are the smaller rooms devoted to private collections of paintin^js 
and the co lections of the various art schools. On either side of the main building, and connected with it by hand- 
some corridors, are very large annexes, which are also utilized by various art exhibits. 

The main building is entered by four great portals, richly ornamented with architectural sculpture and an 
proached by broad flights of steps. The walls of the loggie of the colonnades are highly decorated wi'th mural 
paintings, illustrating the history and progress of the arts. The frieze of the exterior walls and the pediments of the 
principal entrances are ornamented with sculptures and portraits in bas-relief of the masters of ancient art. 

57 



The general tone or color is litrht sray stone. 

The cor.striiction, although of a leaiporary character, is necessarily fire-proof. The main walls are of solid 
brick, covered with " staff," architecturally ornamented, while the roof, floors, and gallerie.-j are of iron. 

All light is supplied through glass skylights in iron frames. 

The building is located beautifully in the northern jiortion of the park, with the south front facing the la- 
goon. It is separated from the lagoon by beautiful terraces, ornamented with balustrades, with an immense flight 
of steps leadinu down from the main portal to the lagoon, where there is a landing for boats. The north front 
faces the wide lawn and the group of State buildings. The immediate neighborhood of the building, is orna- 
mented with groups of statues, replica ornaments of classic art, such as the choragic monument, the " Cave of th3 
Winds," and other beautiful e.xamples of Grecian art. The ornamentation also includes statues of heroic and life- 
size proportions. 



S8 



THE FISHERIES BUILDING. 

The Fisheries Building embraces a large central structure with two smaller polygonal buildings connected 
with it on either end by arcades. The extreme length of the building is 1,100 feet and the width 200 feet. It is 
located to the northward of the United States Government Building. 

In the central portion is the general Fisheries e.xhibit. In one of the ])olygonal buildings is the Angling 
cxhiliit. and in the other the .Vquaria. The exterior of the building is Spani.sh Romanesque, which contrasts agree- 
ably in appearance with that of the other buildings. 

To the close observer the exterior of the building cannot fail to be exceedingly interesting, for the architect, 
Henry Ives Cobb, exerted all his ingenuity in arranging innumerable forms of capitals, modillions. brackets, cornices, 
and other ornamental details, using only fish and other sea forms for his motif of design. The roof of the building 
is of old Spanish tile, and the side-walls of pleasing color. The cost is about ;j2oo,ooo. 

In the centre of the polygonal building is a rotunda 60 feet in diameter, in the middle of which is a basin or 
pool 26 feet wide, from which rises a towering mass of rocks, covered with moss and lichens. P'rom clefts and crev- 
ices in the rocks crystal streams of water gush and drop to the masses of reeds, rushes, and ornamental semi-aqijatic 
plants in the basin below. In this pool gorgeous gold-fishes, golden ides, golden tench, and other fishes disport. 
From the rotunda one side of the larger series of Aquaria may be viewed. These are ten in number, and have a 
cajjacity of 7,000 to 27.,ooo gallons of water each. 

Passing out of the rotunda, a great corridor or arcade is reached, where on one hand can be viewed the oppo- 

59 



site side of the series of great tanks, and on the other a hne of tanks somewhat smaller, ranging from 750 to 1,500 
gallons each in capacity. The corridor or arcade is about 15 feet wide. The glass fronts of the Aquaria are in 
length about 575 feet and have 3,000 square feet of surface. 

The total water capacity of the Aquaria, exclusive of reservoirs, is 18,725 cubic feet, or 140,000 gallons. 
This weighs 1,192,425 pounds, or almost 600 tons. Of this amount about 40,000 gallons is devoted to the Marine 
exhibit. In the entire salt-water circulation, including reservoirs, there are about 80,000 gallons. The pumping and 
distributing plant for the Marine Aquaria is constructed of vulcanite. The pumps are in duplicate, and each has a 
capacity of 3,000 gallons per hour. The supply of sea-water was secured by evaporating the necessary quantity at the 
Wood's Holl station of the United States Fish Commission to about one-fifth its bulk, thus reducing both quantity 
and weight for transportation about eighty per cent. The fresh water required to restore it to its proper density was 
supplied from Lake Michigan. 



60 



THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING. 

Forming the northern Architectural Court of the Exposition is a group of edifices of which the Transporta- 
tion Building is one. It is situated at the southern end of the west fiank and lies between the Horticultural and the 
Mines Buildings. Facing eastward it commands a view of the floral island and an extensive branch of tlie lagoon. 

The Transportation Building is exquisitely refined and simple in architectural treatment, although very rich 
and elaborate in detail. In style it savors much of the Romanesque, although to the initiated the manner in which 
it is designed on axial lines, and the solicitude shown for fine proportions, and subtle relation of parts to each other, 
\vill at once suggest the methods of composition followed at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. 

Viewed from the lagoon, the cupola of the Transportation Building forms the effective southwest accent of 
the quadrangle, while from the cupola itself, reached by eight elevators, the Northern Court, the most beautiful effect 
of the entire Exposition, may be seen in all its glory. 

The main entrance to the Transportation Building consists of an immense single arch enriched to an ex- 
traordinary degree with carvings, bas-reliefs, and mural paintings, the entire feature forming a rich and beautiful, 
yet quiet, color climax, for it is treated in leaf and is called the Golden Door. 

The remainder of the architectural composition falls into a just relation of contrast with the highly wrought 
entrance, and is duly quiet and modest, though very broad in treatment. It consists of a continuous arcade with 
subordinated colonnade and ental)lature. Numerous minor entrances are from time to time pierced in the walls, and 
with them are grouped terraces, seats, drinking-fountains, and statues. 

6i 



The interior of the Iniilding is treated nnich after the manner of a Roman basihra, with broad nave and 
aisles. The roof is therefore in three di\ isions. The middle one ri.ses much hii;lier than the others, and its walls 
are pierced to form a beautiful arcaded clearstory. The cupola, jjlaced exactly in the centre of the building and ris- 
ing 165 feet above the ground, is reached by eight elevators. These elevators of themselves naturally form a part of 
the Transportation exhibit, and as they also carry passengers to galleries at various stages of height, a fine view of 
the interior of the building may easily be obtained. The main galleries of this building, because of the abundant 
elevator facilities, prove quite accessible to visitors. 

The main building of the Transportation exhibit measures 960 feet front by 250 feet deep. From tliis ex- 
tends westward to Stoney Island Avenue an enormous annex, covering about nine acres. 'I'his is one story only in 
height. In it may be seen the more bulky exhibits. Along the central avenue or nave the visitor may see facing 
each other scores of locomotive engines, highly polished, and rendering the perspective effect of the nave both ex- 
ceedingly novel and striking. Add to the effect of the exhibits the architectural impression given by a long vista of 
richly ornamented colonnade, and it may easily be seen that the interior of the Transportation Building is one of the 
most impressive of the Exposition. 

The Transportation exhibits naturally include everything, of whatsoever name or sort, devoted to the purpose 
of transportation, and range from a baby carriage to a mogul engine, from a cash conveyer to a balloon or carrier- 
pigeon. Technically this exhibit includes everything comprised in Class G of the official classification. The Trans- 
portation Building cost about $300,000. Adler & Sullivan, of Chicago, are the architects. 



62 



THE NAVAL EXHIBIT. 

Unique among the otlier exhilnts is tliat made liy the United States Naval Department. It is in a structure 
whirli. to all outward appearance, is a faithful full-si/ed model of one of the new coast-line battle-ships. This imita- 
tion battle-ship of 1893 is erected en piling on the Lake front in the northeast portion of Jackson Park. It is sur- 
rounded by water and has the api-earance of being moored to a wharf. The structure has all the fittings that belong 
to the actual ship, such as guns, turrets, torpedo tubes, torpedo nets and booms, with boats, anchors, chain-cables, 
davits, awnings, deck fittings, etc.. together with all appliances for working the same. Officers, seamen, mechanics, 
and marines are detailed by the N'a\y Department during the Exposition, and the discipline and mode of life on our 
naval vessels are comijletely shown. The detail of men is not. however, as great as the complement of the actual ship. 
The crew gives certain drills, esjecially boat, torpedo, and gu.n drills, as in a vessel of war. 

The dimensions of the structure are those of the actual battle-ship, to wit : Length. 34S feet ; width amid- 
ships 69 feet 3 inches ; and from the water-line to the toj) of the main-deck. 12 feet. Centrally placed on this deck 
is a superstructtu-e 8 feet high, witli a hammock berthing on the same 7 feet high, and above these are the bridge, 
chart-house, and the boats. 

At the forward end of the superstructure there is a cone-shaped tower, called the "military mast," near the 
top of which are ].ilaced tw-o circilar •'tops" as receptacles for sharjishooters. Rapid-firing guns are mounted in 
each of these tops. The height from the water-line to the summit of this military mast is 76 feet, and above is 
placed a flagstafir for signaling. 

63 



IJti 



/"' .• The battery niountcd comprises four 13-inch breech-loading rifle cannon; eight S-inch breech-loading rifle 
cannon ;',*f6nr 6-inch breech-loading rille cannon; twenty 6-i)ounder rapid-firing guns; six i-pound rapid-firing 
guns ; two Galling guns, and six torpedo tubes or torpedo guns. All of these are placed and mounted respectively 
as in the genuine battle-ship. 

On the starboard side of the ship is shown the torjiedo protection-net, stretching the entire length of the 
vessel. Steam-launches and cutters ride at the booms, and all the outward appearance of a real shii) of war is imi- 
tated. 



64 



i 



